


Wild Child

by CleverCatchphrase



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Family, Other, Petstuck, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CleverCatchphrase/pseuds/CleverCatchphrase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trolls can no longer be owned as pets, but they still have a long way to go before they can be called people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coldhope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldhope/gifts), [saccharineSylph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saccharineSylph/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Loophole](https://archiveofourown.org/works/527502) by [saccharineSylph](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saccharineSylph/pseuds/saccharineSylph). 
  * Inspired by [Unwanted Free Ugly Troll](https://archiveofourown.org/works/477092) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> So, earlier this year I read the famous Loophole fanfic and cried my eyes out. Then I read Unwanted Free Ugly Troll and was surprised, nay, nearly insulted that someone dare write a fic with Equius but not Nepeta??? So I wrote one myself. It takes place about two years after UFUT, which would be about three years (almost?) after Loophole. I've tried to keep the relations made between the characters in Loophole and UFUT the same in my story.
> 
> As for Wild Child's relation to Loophole and UFUT in general, please know that I didn't write this story to make them into a trilogy. There are already many more fan fictions inspired by these two works, most of which I have not been able to read, but all doubtlessly written with the same passion for the sake of story telling that we all have, and not for a chance at fame or popularity.
> 
> I intentionally wanted Wild Child to be a one shot, a spin off, a fic inspired by a fic, inspired by a fic, inspired by a picture, something short to please myself, but when I started writing, I knew it wouldn't turn out that way. And every night from the 11th of December to Christmas day, I wrote a chapter until this story told itself. 
> 
> So now, if Loophole and UFUT will have me, I present you another installment of this petstuck series, and I will do my best to make an acceptable continuing story line out of what has been laid before me.

You get the call around midnight.

It’s your subordinate, Jade, whom has been working the night shifts at the vet clinic this week. Usually the night shifts are only needed for keeping an eye on patients in critical conditions, or for the very rare emergency call.

You can tell from the sound of her voice that this is one of those emergency calls.

“Oh, God. Dr. Zahhak, I hate to wake you up but animal control just brought in a young troll with some serious injuries. I-I don’t know the story of how it happened yet, but she’s fading fast. I’m doing my best to get her stable, but, God please help me, I don’t think I can do this one on my own. Please come down to the clinic as fast as you can. I don’t want to lose her!”

Jade hangs up before you can say a word, but you don’t need to. You put the phone back on the receiver, throw on your veterinarian’s coat over your pony-print PJs, grab your keys and glasses, and are out of your driveway in sixty seconds flat. 

Thank heavens the streets are empty tonight as you blatantly speed through all the red lights. It’s not often you break the traffic laws, but if Jade says she’s not sure if she can save a patient, then you know it’s pretty serious.

The van from animal control is in the parking lot when you reach your destination, letting you know the officer was still here.

You rush inside and make a beeline to the only operating room with the lights on. You don’t see the troll at first. The animal control officer’s body is blocking your view. He and Jade are both hunched over the table with tight expressions and talking urgently.

“Hold her down so I can get the catheter in!”

“I’m trying, but she’s squirming too hard, and these big gloves I have to wear so she doesn't bite me don’t give me much dexterity!”

Jade catches you out of the corner of her eye and relaxes ever so slightly. “I've given her a mild sedative, but she’s fighting it,” she says to you without a greeting. “Despite her condition, she’s still fighting us too. I can’t get any fluids into her.”

“Then we’ll just have to re administer the sedative,” you say, reaching for the proper vile and a syringe.

“And risk overdose?” Jade challenges you. “You might kill her!”

“It’s either we take that risk or lose her to her injuries. If she’s as much of a fighter as you say, then she just might pull through.”

Pulling on some latex gloves, you move in close to the officer who gladly steps aside. That’s when you see her for the first time.

She’s stark naked, curled up in a tight ball and clutching her abdomen. Olive green blood is seeping through her fingers. She’s grimacing and growling at the same time, her strikingly yellow eyes blazing with malice and pain.

You don’t look long. With deft hands you pin her at her hip and shoulder while Jade give her another injection of sedative. Instantly she struggles to get free, kicking out with her back feet. Reluctantly you squeeze her a little harder to keep her from hurting herself or you.

The strength trolls possessed never fails to surprise you. You can cover most of the troll with your large hands, and yet you find yourself trying hard not to lose your grip as Jade is finally able to insert an IV drip. The small troll’s struggles begin to weaken, but you aren't sure if her body is giving in or giving up.

Jade is quick to apply an oxygen mask and you set up the heart monitor. Her breathing is irregular and her blood pressure is dangerously low. You’ll have to work fast.

At long last Jade is able to move the troll’s arms aside to see the injury but she’s so blood soaked you can’t tell where the injury is. That’s another thing that never ceased to amaze you about trolls. The amount of blood in their bodies seemed unreal.

Not wasting a second, you clean her up with wet wipes and discover the source of the problem. A bullet wound.

“She was shot?” Jade asks with a sneer.

“A man up state did it” The animal cop says behind you. You almost forgot he was still here. “He lives in a more rural part up north and said he feeds his family with a personal garden and chicken coop. A few weeks back he noticed his hens were going missing and thought a nuisance animal was getting to them, and he decided to take care of the problem. 

“When he shot her, he claimed he thought he shot a child from the sound she made and realized his mistake. He said, and I quote, ‘I’ll shoot a pesky fox or raccoon any day, but I ain’t no troll killer.’“ The officer looks at the unconscious troll with contempt, but something tells you that the glare isn't meant for her specifically.

“I tried getting her to an ER,” he goes on. “But you know what they told me when I burst in, desperate for help? They said ‘I’m sorry, but we don’t treat animals here.’” Simmering with fury, the officer takes his leave. 

“I think I've been as useful as I could be,” He says with half a glance back. “I’m sorry to have dropped this whole mess on you, but you were my only option and last hope. I left my information on the counter up front if you need me.” And with that he leaves the she-troll in your care.

“I don’t see an exit wound,” Jade says as soon as the animal control officer exits the building. “That must mean the bullet’s still in there.”

“We’ll have to surgically remove it, then,” you reply automatically. “We’ll have to be delicate, though. We don’t know if any internal organs were damaged or how severely if they are. Get the fine instruments for this operation. She’s so small I don’t think anything else will fit in this wound.”

Your assistant is two steps ahead of you, already pulling out your thinnest surgical thread, needles and tweezers. You’re so lucky to have Jade as a coworker. The two of you work in tandem so well it’s almost as if you share one mind. 

While you begin the surgery, Jade wastes no time starting a file for your new patient. She records her length and blood color, determines her age to be about three from the state of her teeth, and searches for a microchip, but finds none.

You manage to extract the bullet. It was deeply embedded and punctured a hole into her small intestine. Now came the tricky part of sewing this hole and prevent any bile from leaking into her body.

It takes hours of careful stitching to ensure there is no gap for the acidic stomach fluids to escape from and to make sure the intestine won’t kink and become impacted when she starts to move. You manage to do this through the bullet hole alone, without making a bigger incision which would only damage more organs. Experience and patience have given you this skill, and with luck the troll girl would only have a small circular scar to commemorate this ordeal.

The operation is complete by three a.m. Both you and Jade are exhausted.

“Jade, why don’t you go home early and get some rest. I’m opening today, so I’ll just cover the rest of your night shift.” You say as you dress the young troll in gauze and bandages.

“Are you sure? The clinic doesn't open for another four hours.”

“Going home now won’t do me much good at this point. I’d only get about two hours of rest.” You gently transport your unconscious patient to the kennels in the back and place her in the largest one on the bottom row. “I also want to keep an eye on her. Her wound may have been seen to, but she’s still not in the clear.” You line the cage with an old comforter that you usually save for your arthritic patients. “I guess keeping her in a cage will have to do for now, as much as I’d rather not have her locked up like this.” You sigh regretfully. 

Jade yawns and nods absently in agreement. “I guess I’ll see you this evening then,” she mumbles. Drowsily, she makes her way to the front door but stops short. “Oh, and Dr. Zahhak?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t forget to change out of your pajamas before you open the clinic.” 

It’s when you look down at what you’re wearing that you suddenly remember you came rushing over here in your pony-print night wear and fuzzy slippers. It’s a good thing you always kept a spare outfit in your office in case of a wardrobe malfunction, though you have to admit you never guessed coming to work in your jammies would be one.

After bidding Jade farewell you go to your office and do exactly that, and after changing you wearily sit down at your computer. You guess… you might as well…. Check… some emails…

And without intending to, you fall asleep with your head on the keyboard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (for some reason my previous notes got deleted down here possibly because they were repeating unexplainably in the end notes of chapter three?? I could not find the same images as before, but anyhow...)
> 
> These are Equius' Pajamas: http://www.babatude.com/media/catalog/product/c/o/coco-the-horse.jpg


	2. Chapter 2

_“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”_

You wake with a start to a shill, human-like scream.

Disoriented and confused, you stagger out of your office. You try to make sense of the situation, but your mind is slow and you have the logic of a drunkard. 

The scream sounds like a child. Shit, did a little kid get into the clinic when you were asleep? Did they cut themselves on surgical equipment?

The screaming goes on without pause, and now canine voices are joining in, but this allows you to pinpoint its source. It’s coming from the holding kennels. Did the kid stick his hand in a cage and get bit by a dog that was staying overnight? 

You rush into the room, expecting to see a child with missing fingers, but find none. That’s when you realize the screaming is coming from one of the bottom cages and it all comes back to you at once.

You squat In front of the cage and get eye to eye with the little she-troll you treated last night. Upon seeing your face she lets out a gasp and jumps back from the bars. She gets on all fours and tries to arch her back and hiss at you like a cat, but only gets halfway there before she feels her bullet wound and falls cringing to the floor.

You let out a sigh of relief. She’s made it through the night which is a good sign. Now she just needs to rest and heal. You get up and look for a clock. It’s six forty-seven. The vet clinic will open in less than fifteen minutes. Might as well get the day started.

You rinse your face with cold water and unlock the front door for the public. It isn’t long before your first patients arrive. Pets due for checkups and vaccinations are dropped off by busy owners on their way to work, and within minutes you’re kept busy by your daily routine of distributing booster shots, performing spays and neuters, and the occasional teeth cleanings.

Five hours go by. More vets arrive and the work pace is steady. You get so absorbed into your work that you totally forget your troll patient in the back. That is, until she starts screaming again.

You’re just checking in a cat who needs its inner ear examined when that eerily human shriek starts up again, causing you to drop the cat. The poor unbalanced thing falls hard on its side. So much for cats always landing on their feet.

“E-excuse me for a minute,” you apologize hastily to the pet parent and rush to the back. You find the she-troll shouting at the top of her tiny lungs and violently shaking the bars of the cage. This time she doesn’t back down when she sees you. Instead she presses her face to the bars and snarls at you in defiance.

The bandages wrapped around her stomach are beginning to turn green where her stitches are, and you’re concerned all her movement is reopening her wound. You’ll have to clean and check if it’s mending properly as soon as you get a chance.

Over her snarling, you hear the troll’s stomach growl. She is incredibly thin, but you debate giving her any food. You may need to sedate her again and anything eaten beforehand may cause her to throw up and choke while she’s under.

Her stomach growls again and the troll’s snarl switches to a moan of hunger. Your heart gives in and you decide to get her something to eat when you go on your lunch break.

“Hey there,” you whisper to the little olive blood. “I’m sorry that I had to shut you in a cage like this. I know you’re probably scared and confused being here, but don’t worry, it’s going to be alright. I’ll get you a snack in a minute. In the meantime I need you to stay quiet and still. All your shouting will make the other animals start and you might open your stitches if you keep moving around like that. Got it?”

The troll looks at you unblinkingly and it occurs to you that she didn’t understand a word you said. It’s a bit concerning, but you don’t have the time to worry about it and make your way back to the front desk. 

The owner of the cat you dropped eyes you with displeasure as she strokes her poor feline.

“What in God’s name was that yelling about?” she demands. “Are you keeping a child locked up back there?”

“I’m sorry ma’am. It’s a young troll who was brought in last night on an emergency call. The hospitals wouldn’t take her.”

The lady only gives you a disgusted sniff. “From the ruckus it’s making, I can understand why. Besides, trolls aren’t really people anyway. Why should we waste our tax dollars on them?”

You suppress a groan when the screaming suddenly starts up again from the back room, this time followed by a chorus of howls and barking. “Ugh, if you have to keep a troll in here at least do us all a favor and put a muzzle on it! My poor Mopsy already has a terrible ear ache and all that screaming from that… that _thing_ will only cause him more unwanted suffering.”

You’re trying your damned hardest to keep a blank face as you take the lady’s cat. Lord knows you are trying. 

“Now I’ll be back at five to pick him up. Goodbye, shnookums. I’m sorry I have to leave you here knowing one of those dreadful creatures is in today, but I’ll be back soon. I love you, be good!” With that, the lady leaves Mopsy in your care.

As soon as she’s out the door you let a scowl crawl across your face. How long has it been now since the movement for troll rights began? How long had it been since the infamous Scratch case that started it all? Two years? Almost three? Trolls and activists alike had made great strides for equality in those years but it still infuriated you when people still considered them nothing more than animals.

You look at the time. It’s half past twelve. You decide to let your other vets handle Mopsy the cat while you break for lunch.

It’s a short drive to the convenience store down the street where you purchase a sandwich and a pint of milk for yourself. As for the troll it’s obvious she shouldn’t have anything too heavy or rich in her emaciated state. You settle on getting her some apple sauce and head back to the clinic.

You’re greeted by troll screams and general pandemonium when you return, and hastily try to get the situation under control. The she-troll is yelling again but this time she’s managed to undo her bandages and is now throwing them at all your vet techs who are trying to calm her.

They let you take over as soon as they see you, and you waste no time pulling out the cup of apple sauce. “Hey, hey it’s alright. Look, I have foo. Do you like apple sauce? Huh?”

As soon as she catches a whiff of the food she quiets. The plastic cup is too large to pass through the bars so you undo the lock by lifting it up and sliding it to the right. The troll watches you with fascination as you open the door just wide enough to pass the cup through, and she takes it hesitantly.

“There you go. Try that. It’s good and it will make your stomach feel better.”

The troll eyes you for a solid minute, as if she’s not entirely sure if you’ve just given her sustenance or poison, but eventually gives in to hunger and downs the apple sauce in three gulps. With food in her stomach the troll looks slightly less tense and is noticeably quieter. Without her bandages, you do notice a stitch or two have come undone, but you’ll have to wait a few hours to sedate her again and re-sew them. You’ll just have to hope she doesn’t pick or scratch at the wound until then.

“That’s a good girl,” you praise her before leaving.” Everything will be alright. Trust me.” 

There are only a few more hours until Jade returns for the late shift and you’ll get to go home, so you throw yourself back into your work in hopes of distracting your eyes from the clock. It works for about an hour until a surprised shout draws your attention.

“Dr. Zahhak!” One of your assistant’s yells. “The troll figured out how to undo the lock! She escaped from her cage!”

Dear God, why won’t this day end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is Mopsy: http://lolosad.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/persian_3.JPG


	3. Chapter 3

Reluctantly you go back into the kennel room armed with more apple sauce that you could hopefully use to lure the troll to you.

You’re surprised to find that not only did the little olive blood escape her cage, but managed to shimmy up onto the top of them – a height of six feet. Did this mean her wound no longer bothered her or was she just hiding her pain like most animals do?

Wait, no. That was wrong of you. You mentally reprimand yourself for comparing the she-troll to an animal. She is a troll, yes but that didn’t make her an animal.

From atop the cages the little nuisance spits and swipes at all who come near, and you notice for the first time that her claws are retractable. You wonder for a second if that meant all olive bloods had that feature or if it was unique to her alone. You knew from experience that the highest blood casts were aquatic, and low casts were known to have telepathic powers. Heck, some casts were even venomous.

You don’t ponder on it long. As long as the she-troll is loose she is in danger of hurting herself, you, or any of the other vets and pets.

“My, you sure do have a knack for causing headaches, don’t you sweetheart?” The troll just looks at you unimpressed. “How about you come down from there and I’ll give you more apple sauce? Would you like that?” The troll narrows her yellow eyes and lets out a deep growl- deeper than you thought possible coming from her tiny body. 

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. We’re all friends here. We just want to help. See?” You move the apple sauce closer to her, hoping to distract her and make the troll drop her guard. But the troll’s got other plans.

Seeing your advance as a threat, the troll springs from the cage top and onto the overhanging florescent lights which snap under her weight and short out, pitching you into darkness. Within seconds all hell breaks loose.

“Quick, block the door!” “Don’t let her squeeze behind any cabinets!” “Watch out for her claws!” “Quick! Someone grab a towel!” 

Eventually your eyes adjust to the dimness. Dogs are howling, the troll is darting everywhere, all your staff are tripping over each other, and someone bumped your arm causing you to spill the applesauce. 

“I got her!” One of the vets announces in triumph as they pin the little neck pain under the towel. She shrieks and kicks, but her screams of protests are muffled by the cloth. This time you don’t feel bad about putting her back in the cage, only relieved. You do take extra measures and place an actual lock on the latch, though, one that requires a key to open.

You figure the little troll remembered and learned how to unlock the cage when she saw you do it. You’re pretty impressed. She only saw it once.

Immediately the troll reattempts to unlock the cage, but is thwarted by the lock. Green tears of frustration roll down her cheeks as she tries harder and harder to force it open, and small drops of olive colored blood begin to dot the comforter lining the bottom.

You don’t want to sedate her again. It would be too much trouble. Instead you go to a cabinet where you stash pet toys that you give to the animals that are really stressed. You quickly push past the chew toys, rawhides and tennis balls until you find the stuffed animals. The first one you find is a blue, catnip-scented teddy bear. It’s as big as she is-bigger in fact. Hopefully she would take out her anger on it instead of the cage.

“Here, sweetheart. Try beating up the bear instead of the bars. It’s much more satisfying.” 

The troll jumps with a start at the sight of the bear and steps back, giving you a chance to unlock the cage and slip it in. Gingerly, she picks it up and inspects every inch of it with her hands, eyes, nose and even her mouth.

It’s amusing to watch but more relieving to know the toy will keep her pacified, if just for the moment.

“Whatever am I going to do with you?” you sigh. What where you going to do with her? You hadn’t given it much thought, but what would happen next once she had a clean bill of health and didn’t need to stay at the clinic anymore? Despite all the progress trolls had made for equality, it seemed as if there was always some new radical political group passing laws or justifying troll suppression. 

How they rationalized these laws or why the public voted them into office in the first place, you’ll never know, but what you did know was that orphanages and adoption agencies had started implementing “human only” policies and similar horse shit, and that you sure as hell weren’t going to put her in the pound.

You push the problem to the back of your mind, telling yourself you’ll cross that bridge when you get there.

It seemed giving the troll the teddy bear did the trick, for she remains quiet for the rest of the day. Jade finally arrives for the late shift at five, and you have never been more relieved in your life.

“What happened in here?” Jade asks in the now-darkened kennel room.

“Our little troll patient was being a terror all day,” you explain, recapping the entire story. “She figured out how to undo the lock and proceeded to destroy the light while we all ran around like chickens with our heads cut off.”

“That sounds hilarious!” Jade giggles. “Someone should have played the Benny Hills theme. I bet it would have been amusing.”

“It wasn’t amusing in the slightest. But now that you’re here, I’m going to head home. I’m exhausted.”

“What about our little troll friend?” 

“She’ll stay here for the night. Her antics today caused her to reopen some stitches. Oh, bother. I meant to check up on those.”

You prepare a sedative and rejoin Jade who is crouched in front of the troll’s cage. “Say, have you given her a name yet?” She asks.

“A name? You know our personal rules, Ms. Harley. We don’t name strays we treat or we get attached to them, and vets do not need extra pets.”

“But she’s not a stray or a pet, now, is she Equius?”

She’s got you there. You ignore the fact that she used your first name in the workplace and look at the troll. She’s hugging that blue teddy bear so tight, it looks like its head might pop off. She’s breathing slow and deep into its stomach where the catnip is stored, and- wait, is she purring? You and Jade listen close. Yes, there it is- the unmistakable sound of a purr. 

“Haha, wow. For a troll she really does have some feline qualities,” Jade states. “And it looks like she’s really digging that catnip. Hey, how about we call her that? Catnip!”

You shake your head. “No. Trolls aren’t animals, so we shouldn’t give her a name with an animal in it. Even though she acts a lot like a cat, she still isn’t one.”

“Hmm. How about Nepeta, then? That’s the scientific name for catnip.”

“How do you know that?”

“Aside from being a vet, I’m also a passionate gardener. I learned it when I was researching plants to grow,” Jade explains.

“Hm, I guess that will work, then. Is that alright with you, Nepeta? Is that a good name?”

The troll looks at you with heavy eyelids all while still hugging the bear. She purrs a little louder and lets out a contented sigh.

“Nepeta it is, then,” you smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Nepeta finally gets named and I can stop calling her "troll" all the time.
> 
> Also, this is the teddy bear: http://www.sockmonkeysalesonline.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/sm6-Blue-bear-10p5n2.jpg


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *attempts to write two chapters a day to finish on the new year*
> 
> *fails spectacularly as new year fireworks explode in the distance*

You’re relieved to discover you don’t need to sedate Nepeta this time around to examine her. As long as she has that catnip bear, she’s docile enough to be handled. You’re even more relieved to see that her wound is already beginning to scab over. Instead of re-stitching it, you decide to simply clean the area, re-bandage it, and let it heal on its own.

Not sedating her also means she can eat some more, but you’ll need to provide her more than just apple sauce. It’s back to the convenience store for you where you purchase a wide variety of canned fruits, vegetables, packaged lunchmeats and another pint of milk. You’ll have to watch how she eats for the first few days to make sure she doesn’t eat too much or too fast in her malnourished state, but this should last you a few days.

Back at the clinic you prepare a bowl of mixed strained veggies and a plate of deli meat. It’s nothing fancy, but it’ll get the job done. You offer the simple dish to Nepeta who temporarily abandons the bear to inspect the food before picking at her favorite bits.

“So, about Nepeta,” Jade interrupts you as you watch the young troll sample and reject some carrot pieces. “What’s your plan, Z-man?”

“Miss Harley, please. Professionalism in the work place.”

“Sorry, doc Zahhak. But seriously. What are we going to do with her?”

“Well, I want her to stay here for one more day or two until the rest of her stitches can be removed, but I guess in the mean time we can call the local authorities and see if she’s someone’s missing child.”

Jade eyes you skeptically. “Dr. Zahhak, she was found running wild and naked in the most rural parts of the state. She can’t even speak. Do you really think someone was raising her before she came to us?”

“No, but there’s no harm in asking.” And that’s exactly what you do. You head to your office, pick up the phone and call the police department.

“Hello, I’d like to report a found child.”

“Alright, did this child give you their name or address?”

“No I’m afraid not. She can’t speak.”

“Well then can you describe the child to me?”

“She’s a little over two feet tall, has black hair, we estimate her to be about there years old, which would make her six and a half compared to human development, olive blood, short pointed horns-”

“Hold on a minute, sir. Are you describing a troll?”

“Yes.”

“And you found her and are reporting this as a found child?”

“Well, yes.”

“I’m sorry sir, but the police don’t waste their time trying to locate the homes of lost pets. I suggest you check the pet section of the new papers to see if anyone’s placed an ad for a lost troll, or leave an ad yourself. And in the future, please refrain from calling the police unless it’s a real emergency. Good day.”

The phone on the other end clicks and you’re disconnected. You sit there for a solid thirty seconds in utter disbelief. The police don’t help _pets_? Check the papers for lost troll ads? Trolls as pets had been deemed unconstitutional two years ago, and was thus outlawed, but it seemed they still had a long way to go to not be considered animals, much less actual people.

You figured America would have seen this segregation as idiotic and unjust, but you guessed you figured wrong. Why must history have to repeat itself? 

You rub your temples for a bit, trying to suppress all your frustration at the incompetence in the world, when suddenly your phone rings.

At first you think it’s the operator you spoke to at the police department, calling back to say they ran your report for kicks, but actually DID find Nepeta’s missing family, or at least he called back to apologize for being an ass, but the voice on the other end isn’t them at all.

“Hello, you’ve reached Skaia veterinary clinic. Dr. Zahhak Speaking.”

“Hello, Equius!” A feminine voice sings. “I’m just calling to remind you about our date tonight!”

“F-feferi, hi!” you stutter. Fiddlesticks, you totally did forget about your dinner date tonight with your girlfriend. You seriously need some sleep. “I-I’m sorry, Feferi. I have to admit I completely forgot our dinner plans for tonight. You see, a troll was brought into the clinic last night, and she’s really thrown a wrench into the gears of our operation over here. Our metaphorical machine has practically collapsed into a pile of nuts and bolts.”

“I’m sorry to hear of your struggles,” Feferi giggles, not sorry in the least. “You sure do sound like you need some R and R. How about we talk about it over dinner? I’ll pay the bill this time.” 

“But Feferi, it’s my turn. It wouldn’t be chivalrous at all for me to-”

“No, no, no. My mind’s made up. Besides, you sound so exhausted you might forget where you put your wallet when it comes time to pay. Now what time do you get off work?”

 

“I a-actually just got off a few minutes ago.”

“Great, I’ll pick you up at your place in about an hour, around six. Does that sound good?”

“Th-that would be perfect.”

“Alrighty then! See you tonight, love.”

“See you tonight.”

You hang up the phone. This whole day so far had been a mess, but things are finally starting to look up. You grab your keys, a plastic bag with the PJ’s you were wearing this morning, and with one last look back at the kennels, you head home for the night.

\--

“So, Equius, tell me all about it!” Feferi inquires over your fancy dinner.

“Huh?” you look up, not having heard. Thank God Feferi offered to drive. You’re so sleep deprived you’re not sure how you even safely managed to drive home.

“The troll, Equius! It’s been months since you had one as a patient. It seems no one knows if they should start seeing human doctors, animal doctors, or get doctors of their own. Your training on troll care is probably as good as anyone else’s though.”

“Oh, yeah, Nepeta.” You absently push your food around with your fork. “She’s unlike any other I’ve treated. She doesn’t seem to understand us, or is able to speak. Instead she just growls, hisses and even purrs like a cat. I really don’t know how much human interaction she’s had in her life. She certainly keeps us on our toes.”

“Wow, she sounds like a text book feral child to me.”

“A what?”

“A feral child. A child who was raised by wild animals and managed to survive living like one.”

“But she’s only three years old. It’s true she was found where few people live, but surely she had to belong to someone’s family?”

“Maybe not,” Feferi shakes her head. “Do you remember the day the Supreme Court ruled that trolls couldn’t be kept as pets? Animal shelters wouldn’t take them because they were no longer pets, homeless shelters and orphanages wouldn’t take them because they’re not humans, and with no premade troll-shelters, people were abandoning them left and right because they didn’t want the responsibility of caring for another person. I bet she was put in that forest by someone who didn’t want the hassle, and left there to die, thinking no one would find her there.”

You knit your brow and stay silent. What Feferi said was depressing but true. You remember all too well all the trolls you tried and failed to save in that first year with the new law. People tried everything, and you mean _everything_ to dispose of them to avoid the responsibility or raising them like a human family member. If Feferi’s theory was true, then Nepeta was very lucky to even be alive.

You’re both silent for a while as you eat and get lost in your own thoughts.

“Do you think, maybe,” Feferi tries to break the somber mood, “Do you think I can meet her?”

“Do you want to?” you perk up. “I mean, it’s no trouble at all for me.”

“Oh, yes. I’d love to! When would work best for you for me to come over?”

“Well you could come by tomorrow if you like, I mean, if you have the time-”

“Perfect! I’ll swing by tomorrow during your regular hours, alright?”

“It’s a date,” you grin.

Feferi leans across the table and kisses your cheek, then waves down the waiter to get the check. You don’t remember much after that- you only know you fell asleep with warm, fuzzy feelings that night.

\--

The next day you can finally think clearly thanks to a good night’s sleep, but the only thing on your mind was Feferi coming over. It seemed that as soon as you entered the clinic you noticed every speck of dust, every clump of fur, and every grain of dirt in the building. Between treating each of your guests, you had a wet wipe on hand to clean every inch of your facility.

Nepeta seemed oblivious to it all, sleeping away most of the morning with her blue bear, and only starting a fuss to get some food.

You were able to take out the rest of her stitches today and were awed at how fast she was healing. Granted, her scar tissue was still sensitive and soft, and the bandages would be needed for a day or two more, but other than that she could go home today!

If she had a home to go to…

Feferi arrives half an hour before your shift ends and throws her arms around you in a loving embrace. As much as you wanted to return the gesture, you keep in mind that there are people around and you force yourself to keep it professional.

You lead Feferi to the kennel room, now temporarily lit with lamps, and introduce her to Nepeta.

“Oh, she is just precious!” Feferi squeaks in such a frequency that causes Nepeta to lay her ears back in mild alarm. “It’s a shame about the lock though. You’re just too clever for old Equius, aren’t you? Well don’t go losing that cleverness anytime soon! You’ve missed out on a few years of schooling and are going to need it if you want to learn to read, write and talk. Oh, we really need to do something about that rat’s nest of a hair-do you have. Equius, I do hope you plan on removing her from this cage soon. Nobody deserves to live like this.”

“Well, the last of her stitches did come out today, so she doesn’t need to stay at the clinic anymore.”

“So where will she go now?”

“I guess… I’ll take care of her. For the time being, anyway.” You say in the spur of the moment.

“You will?” Feferi says in elation.

“You will?” Jade echoes, popping her head in the room.

“I think I’ll have to. She doesn’t need medical attention anymore and it would be cruel to keep her locked up here. And there’s no one else to take her on such short notice. I guess it will have to be me.”

“Oh, love! You’re so kindhearted!” Feferi hugs you tightly and give you another kiss on the cheek, and once again the warm, fuzzy feelings spread through you. “I know you’ll be a wonderful parent. You’re great with kids!”

You spy Jade in the door way, her face is deadpan, but her eyes say it all; “You lying liar. You’re just doing this to score points with your girlfriend. What happened to “vets don’t need extra pets”? I really hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, Dr. Zahhak.”

“I really hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, Dr. Zahhak,” Jade says aloud this time, as if she was afraid you didn’t see it in her eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” you assure her. “I’ve read everything there is on raising trolls, and a fair deal on raising human kids as well. I’ll know what to do.”

Truth is, you had no clue what you needed to do. Reading up on troll and child care was one thing, but practicing it was another.

“I hope I know what I’m getting myself into too,” you think to yourself as you unlock Nepeta’s cage for the last time and prepare to take her home with you. “I hope I know what I’m getting myself into too."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *casually throws in the traditional homestuck jokes* yes I know I'm horrible for doing so, but I don't care.

“Okay, I give up,” You admit to yourself an hour later at home. “I have no idea what I’m doing.” Feferi thought you were good with kids, but in truth, you were only good with them if you didn’t have to deal with them for prolonged periods of time.

The ride home with Nepeta was easy enough, and she seemed pretty nonchalant with her new surroundings when you gave her a tour of your home, but as soon as you set her down to let her explore you began to see everything in your house with a new light.

“Oh my, I’ll need to cover up those cables and wires so she can’t pull on them Gracious, I’ll have to move all those tiny nick-knacks out of her reach. They’re a choking hazard! And I’ve never really noticed how steep my stairs were before! She could trip down them and break her neck! These things really should come with a warning. I’ll also have to run out and buy some child safety locks tomorrow for all the cupboards and drawers too.”

The list went on and on as you anxiously watched Nepeta examine every new thing she encountered and imagined the worst case scenario of what she could do with it. The grandfather clock in your parlor struck six. Like a bolt of lightning, startled Nepeta scrambled out of the room and as far away as she could possibly get from the noise, heading somewhere upstairs. Oh God, you didn’t even think of all the things up stairs she could hurt herself with.

“Nepeta, sweetheart, come on out. It’s okay. Nothing can hurt you here.” Jesus, the kid was fast. Where did she go? You begin searching through all the rooms. She’s not in the bathroom or the study- the two rooms you deemed most hazardous upstairs. That only leaves your room and the guest bedroom. You check your room first, but still can’t find her, leaving one final room. If she’s not in the guest bedroom, you’ve got a serious problem on your hands.

“Nepeta?” You call cautiously as you enter. A growl replies to you from under the bed. You get on your stomach and lift the bed skirt. Two yellow eyes shine back at you in the dark.

“There you are, love. Come on out. I’ll turn off that scary chime the clock makes. It won’t ring anymore.”

Nepeta doesn’t move. She doesn’t even blink. You decide not to force her out. She’ll come out when she’s ready. Better to let her acclimate to her surroundings on her own time than keep her stressed by pushing her too far too fast. In the meantime you decide to child-proof the guestroom. It might as well be hers now, anyway. You start by removing anything breakable and anything swallow-able, then bring in every extra towel and blanket from your linen closet to make a soft comfy nest.

“Hey, I made you a nice soft pile for you to sleep in. I even threw in that blue teddy bear of yours,” You tell the little troll who is still hiding under the bed. “That should be much cozier to sleep in rather than on the cold floor under this bed.” Nepeta doesn’t move an inch. “Well, I guess I’ll get dinner started.”

You head back down stairs, hoping that your absence will help Nepeta relax and make her brave enough to come out. As for dinner, tonight it will be grilled chicken, cut into bite sized pieces with sliced fruit and veggies on the sides, and as always, a tall glass of milk to aid those growing bones.

Your mind begins to wonder as you cook. Were you ready to care for a child? Was Jade right? Were you only doing this to impress Feferi? No, you tell yourself. You did this because you had to. There was no other choice. Nepeta would have had nowhere else to go. You guess maybe Jade could have taken her in, but how would Nepeta reacted to her dog, Bec?

You kept trying to convince yourself it wouldn’t be that hard. You’ve had to take home countless animals in the past for a little extra TLC, so- 

Again you pause to reprimand yourself. Trolls weren’t animals, so your usual methods of care probably wouldn’t work. You have to stop making slip ups like that. You try to think of something else, like… the Striders. Yeah. Dave and Dirk were guardians to the trolls Karkat and Sollux. Maybe you could give them a call, and… ask them for a bit of… advice.

From the corner of your eye you spy Nepeta peaking around the doorway of the kitchen. The smell of your exquisite cooking must have coaxed her out.

“Perfect timing, Nepeta. Dinner’s just about ready. Just let me set the table and then we can eat.”

You lay out some plates and serve the food. Nepeta struggles a bit when you pick her up and put her in the chair, but calms when she realizes you’re putting her closer to the food, and quickly digs in. She’s using her hands to eat. You expected this, but you would really need to teach her some dinning etiquette. 

It’s only when you take your own seat that you realize she’s dragged the bear to the table as well.

“Ah ah, Nepeta. No toys at the table. You don’t want it to get dirty now, do you?” You take the bear away, and as soon as Nepeta notices, she shouts at you, demanding that you give it back.

“Ah, no. We don’t yell to get things. We have to be polite.” Why do you even try. It’s clear the toll doesn’t understand, but you guess her education has to start somewhere. So far your list consisted of speech, manners, and etiquette, but you clearly weren’t succeeding in any of these areas.

Nepeta shouts louder and stands up in her chair to reach for the bear. You move the bear further from her, not wanting to give it back until she behaves. Nepeta leans further. One of her hands is on the rim of the plate, which tips and falls onto the floor where it shatters into a thousand pieces.

You gasp and let your guard down. Why did you think it would be a good idea to use breakable dishware for her first meal with you? Nepeta seizes her chance while you’re distracted. With quick hands she takes her teddy bear back form you, leaps off the table, over the shattered plate, out of the dining room and back upstairs. 

You, on the other hand, accept defeat and break out a broom to clean up the plate pieces. A couple of minutes later you have a child-proof bowl filled with an extra serving of dinner. Nepeta hadn’t managed to eat much before things went down the toilet, so doubtless she was still hungry.

On your way up the stairs you run over the list of things you’d have to teach Nepeta if you ever hoped to see order in your house again. So far you had language, manners, respect, etiquette, safety, reasoning and responsibility on there, but where to start? You also couldn’t shake the feeling that you were missing one very important thing, but couldn’t place your finger on it.

*squish*

At the top of the stairs, you stop and tense when you feel something warm and moist underfoot. You refuse to look down, not wanting to find out if what you stepped in is what you think you stepped in. There’s no need, though for the smell that follows confirms your suspicion.

Potty training. Potty training instantly takes the number one spot on your list of what to teach Nepeta.

\--

The next day is Saturday and you have the day off. Normally you’d be running errands or doing chores on your days off, but with Nepeta now in your life you don’t feel ready to leave her unattended in the house, or to take her anywhere in public with you.

So you start trying to work with her instead. Nepeta watches everything you do with great interest, which you take as a good sign. She learned how to unlock her cage that way. Maybe you could teach her by doing things you want her to imitate. 

You also talk to her often, hoping that she’ll imitate sounds as well, but if she’s listening you cannot tell. She gives no sign, no turn of her head or twitch of an ear when you speak to her. You like to think she’s beginning to recognize her name though, because she’ll look at you when you address her most of the time.

Well, okay maybe not most of the time. Its’ more like half. 

Or ten percent.

Okay, maybe three.

All you know is that she can hear you, but she doesn’t listen.

You quickly learned that first day that you needed to keep as much as an eye on her as she did on you, because the moment you stopped paying attention of her whereabouts, she would get into all sorts of trouble imaginable.

The first thing she did was climb one of your many bookshelves, and tipped it over in the process. Your heart nearly stopped when you heard the avalanche of books falling to the floor, and it almost stopped again when you couldn’t find Nepeta, and figured she was buried beneath the heap.

The moment of relief you had when you re-shelved all the books and didn’t find her crushed beneath them was short lived, because as soon as you sorted the last book in its place you heard the sound of silverware and cutlery crashing to the floor as Nepeta pulled out all of the drawers in the kitchen.

The next thing she managed to do after that escapade was reorganize all your clothes from the closet onto the floor, shred your curtains, chew through the power cord of your computer, and have an accident underneath your couch.

You may not have gotten far teaching good behavior today, but on your quest to teach her language you’re fairly certain you got “no”, “stop”, and “don’t” down cold.

It’s nine p.m. when Nepeta finally calls it a day and crashes in your lap for the night. You’re just as worn out as she is, and that’s saying something when you see how physically fit you are, but damn, you haven’t had a work out like that in your life.

With Nepeta out of action for the evening you finally have a moment of peace- a moment to think.

Would you be able to keep this up day after day, week after week? What will you do when you have to go back to work? You can’t keep an eye on her twenty-four seven. Are there any charities or shelters left that take trolls? Even if there are, would they agree to care for someone as wild as Nepeta? God, you don’t even want to THINK about the price of repair it would cost you to undo the damage she’s done to your house for this day alone.

Maybe… Maybe you should just find another home for her. A better home. Just find someone who says they help trolls and let them deal with her; get her out of your life forever and pretend like this whole thing never happened and return to normality. It’s obvious you are not ready to care for children of your own. 

And yet… 

Nepeta sighs in her sleep and rolls over in your lap. Now that you’ve finally caught your breath you gently carry her upstairs to her bedroom and tuck her in.

As a vet you made a personal promise to make sure any homeless soul you healed would be seen off to a safe and happy home. For Nepeta, that home was your home. Could there be anyone else to care for her? WOULD there be anyone else as willing or determined enough to teach her? You’re beginning to doubt it, and if there was they probably couldn’t be doing any better than what you’re doing already.

You find yourself thinking of the lectures you give parents who tell you they plan to get there child a puppy or kitten for their birthday or Christmas. Pets are a lifetime commitment- not a gift and they shouldn’t be thrown away or ignored when the child gets bored with them. The same applied for Nepeta. You promised to take care of her. You can’t just get rid of her because you don’t think you can put up with her.

You’re beginning to truly comprehend the scope of the responsibility you’ve undertaken, and slowly but surely are rising up to the challenge. You decided you would be the one to raise Nepeta. Even though you had said it yesterday, now you know you truly mean it. There was a perfect place for everyone in the world, and Nepeta’s place was here.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter where things go to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for disappearing for so long. I'm back at college and have just gotten back into the swing of things. In fact, I typed up this chapter just to avoid typing a Lab Write Up that's due in a few hours because this is the most appropriate way to handle responsibilities.(Stay in school, kids.)
> 
> Also, let's just pretend I know how psychiatric evaluations work.

Sunday morning you call your staff to let them know you’ll be using all your sick days and two weeks’ vacation now, and that Jade would be in charge of the clinic while you were on leave. That would give you roughly three weeks to civilize Nepeta until you were required to go back to work.

Feferi stops by at your request, bringing a child-proof, child-safe version of everything you own. Plates, forks, spoons, cups, child safety locks, tooth brushes, tooth paste, shampoo, a potty training kit (bless her soul), and- 

“What’s all this?” You ask when you discover a bag full of clothing. 

“They’re children’s clothes, Equius. I know you probably didn’t have any, but I can’t believe you still let her run around naked this long.”

To be honest you hadn’t even noticed. All trolls had a short layer of fur (or scales in the aquatic cases) that covered their entire bodies, which hid the areas humans deemed “inappropriate”. And after treating so many trolls in conditions far worse than Nepeta had been, whether or not if they were decently dressed was the last of your concern.

“Come here, love,” Feferi says holding up a shirt with Hello Kitty on it for Nepeta to see. “Let’s make you look presentable, shall we?” Nepeta warily eyes Feferi from the stairs. She remembered her as the one who made the high pitched noises two days ago.

“It’s okay, Nepeta,” you add. “Feferi’s a friend.” 

Maybe it’s the calm tone of your voice, or Nepeta’s natural curiosity that help her pluck up the courage to come close to Feferi. Either way, she’s instantly betrayed. You knew Nepeta was quick, but in that moment Feferi was quicker. With one swift motion, your girlfriend slipped the shirt over the troll’s head and popper her arms out of the sleeves.

Nepeta was stunned into immobilization like a cat grabbed by the scruff. She just stood there, wide eyed and paralyzed, not moving as if she feared the shirt would eat her.

Then all at once she was jumping and screaming and tumbling and spitting, trying to tear the shirt off. You try to reach for her, but Feferi stops you.

“Let her get used to it or at least let her calm down first. She’ll learn soon enough that it won’t hurt her.”

Unaware of how to take the shirt off, Nepeta began forcing her whole body through the neck whole. She managed to get it off down to her elbows, but was incapacitated when she tripped, and couldn’t get up without the use of her arms.

You help her then, grabbing the bottom edge of the shirt and pulling it up over her head so it comes off with ease. As soon as she’s freed, Nepeta retreats to the safe haven of her room.

“Oh, well,” Feferi sights. “I guess we’ll try pants a different day.” Feferi stays for a few minutes more before she has to get back to her own errands, and you get busy putting away the supplies she’s given you.

About half an hour after Feferi leaves, Nepeta comes back down stairs to check if the coast is clear.

“Don’t worry, Feferi’s gone.” You reassure her. “She had to get back to her own chores. We probably won’t see her again for a while.”

Nepeta watches you wordlessly in that strange unblinking way of hers. It’s almost unsettling. When you look back into those eyes you look for any sign of knowing, of understanding, that she can make sense of the world around her and all your strange human ways. But so far, each time you look back it’s just… vacant.

Having Feferi over reminded you of something she said to you a few days ago, something you’ve been meaning to look into. That afternoon you do a google search of Feral Children. You click on the first link that pops up- the Feral Child Wikipedia page. 

“A feral child (also, colloquially, wild child) is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and crucially, of human language.”

Your brow creases and you swallow a lump in your throat, but keep reading.

“Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their life, and display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them.”

You know for a fact Nepeta has neither a problem walking up right nor disinterest for everything you do. Hopefully this meant she could be toilet trained too.

“They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning a human language. The impaired ability to learn a formal language after having been isolated for so many years is often attributed to the existence of a critical period for language learning, and taken as evidence in favor of the critical period hypothesis.”

Your heart beats a little faster. Critical period? Critical Period hypothesis? What are these? Before you know it, you’re clicking link after link, reading everything the pages have to offer.

“In developmental psychology and developmental biology, a critical period is a phase in the life span during which an organism has heightened sensitivity to exogenous stimuli that are compulsory for the development of a particular skill. If the organism does not receive the appropriate stimulus during this "critical period", it may be difficult, ultimately less successful, or even impossible, to develop some functions later in life.” 

“Sensitive Periods refer to important periods of childhood brain development which is usually complete by the age of six.”

“Children who are not sufficiently stimulated during this time period may never learn the skills needed to function in society.”

Two hours later you force yourself to step back from your computer screen. Your eyes are strained and your head is swimming from all the things you’ve read and learned.

Feral children, sensitive periods, cases like Genie. It was all too much. The question that’s lingered in your mind since the day you realized she could speak can no longer be ignored. Was it too late for Nepeta? She was only three in troll years, but developmentally she was already six and a half by human standards. Had she missed her critical period? Would she ever speak? Would she ever understand?

The more you mull over it, the more you realize you just don’t know. So instead you decide to find someone who does. Another quick google search later and you’ve got the phone numbers and addresses of half a dozen child psychologists who live closest to you.

You schedule an appointment for tomorrow morning.

-

The next morning is a mad house as you try to get Nepeta ready for her psychiatric evaluation. As soon as she sees you pull out a shirt she knows what’s coming and avoids you like the plague. After you pin her in a corner and force her into a shirt and pants you personally haul her out to your car and secure her in the child safety seat Feferi got you.

Dang, this seat has more buckles than a NASA space shuttle and they’re so complex not even Houdini himself could get out of this bad boy. You just hope they can withstand Nepeta.

The drive to the psychiatrist is a tense one. Enraged at the clothes and this new form of detainment, Nepeta takes it out on the blue teddy bear you brought along to comfort her. Well, so much for that idea.

Within minutes she’s chewed off its ears and muzzle, and she severed its head. Now it’s raining bear stuffing in your car as she eviscerates her plushie companion and throws its contents at you. She wears the head like a trophy, her triangular horns sticking through the holes of the ears she’s chewed off, but she seems grumpy about it.

“Oh Nepeta, I thought you loved that bear,” you coo, but Nepeta keeps her eyes focused on the window, refusing to acknowledge you. Thankfully she managed to take all her anger out on the poor teddy and is completely nonresponsive by the time you reach your destination.

You understand that she’s frustrated because she doesn’t know why these things are happening, and you let out a sigh, a bit frustrated yourself.

“Love, I know you’re upset because you’re confused at why we grown-ups do what we do, but one day you’ll see that everything we do is to help you. I hope…” Nepeta is cold and emotionless in your arms. “Now promise me that when we see the doctor you’ll go back to being your happy self. I want your evaluation to be as accurate as possible so we know if there’s anything we can do to help you.”

The receptionist inside eyes you with airy indifference when she sees you carrying a troll, as if saying to you “Whatever, I’ve seen weirder.” You have a hard time imagining what strange things come through a child psychologist’s office, though.

“Hi, I’m here for my appointment with, Uh, Dr. Aranea?”

Without looking up, the receptionist pushes a button on a speaker. “Dr. Aranea, your nine o’ clock is here… She’ll take you in room four-thirteen, first door on the right.”

You find the appropriate door and knock.

“Come on in!” a cheery voice replies, and you enter. You don’t know what you expected, but it certainly wasn’t this. The room is bigger than you’d thought it would be and there are toys everywhere. Although she’s trying to hide it, you can tell Nepeta’s curious about them by the way she watches from the corner of her eye. 

“Hello Dr. Zahhak,” Aranea greets you. “And you must be Nepeta. Aren’t you adorable! And what a unique little hat you have there!” 

“She made it herself just a few minutes ago,” you smile, and Aranea chuckles.

“Dr. Zahhak, why don’t you let Nepeta get comfortable and play a bit before we perform the evaluation?” You’re oddly relieved that Aranea is so calm with assessing a troll. As soon as you set Nepeta down she confidently marches over to the pile of stuffed animals to play with them.

“So, Dr. Zahhak. Tell me, why have you brought Nepeta here today?”

“Well, you see, I’m a vet and a few days ago she was brought into my clinic…”

Before you know it, you dive into your tale, explaining to the psychiatrist all of Nepeta’s behavior, what you read about on feral children and your fears for her development. Aranea listens with apt attentiveness, frantically scribbling notes as you go, all the while nodding and “Mm-hmming” at every place appropriate.

A good quarter of an hour has passed by the time you finish your story. You’re nervous on what she thinks of you, and you find that your mouth is parched.

“Well thank you for all that background information! You certainly seem to have done your homework! This will help me immeasurably. I’ll also go ahead and say we’ve given little Nepeta enough time to adjust. I’m going to observe her for a bit now. Oh, my! It seems we have a little nudist on our hands!”

You turn to see Nepeta’s managed to take of her clothes and you hide your face in your palms.

“I’m so sorry-”

“Don’t be! It says pages about her personality!”

The two of you quietly watch Nepeta play for a while with the stuffed animals. She positions one separate from the others and faced away from her then hides behind a bin of toy blocks. You watch as she slowly and silently stalks up on the unsuspecting toy then pounces on it with a hunter’s leap.

Triumphant with her kill she pulls the stuffed animal back to the others where she has an imaginary feast on its cottony carcass.

“My, my she’s quite the roll player, isn’t she?” Aranea notes. “Hm, she shows preference for the stuffed animals over the other toys… Nepeta, honey! Look this way dear!” Nepeta didn’t so much as turn an ear in Aranea’s direction as she set up another stuffed animal to hunt. “Hm, repetitive behavior, lack of acknowledging the voices of others…”

Dr. Aranea continues to scribble notes then moves to the floor to work with Nepeta. You watch as she performs what you believe are the tests as she interacts with the troll and gauges her reaction to many different objects and stimuli. You do nothing but fidget in your chair. After almost an hour of play, the psychiatrist confronts you.

“Dr. Zahhak, I can’t say for certain just yet, but it seems that along with being feral Nepeta may be slightly autistic.”

“Is… is that bad?” You dare ask.

“Oh, heavens no! From the looks of it, she could be a high-functioning individual in society if she can learn basic manners. She may never speak or express love though, I’m afraid.”

Your heart sinks. What were you going to do now?

“I must say, I have never had a case like this! Until I go over my evaluation again I can’t say for certain if she’s truly autistic or if it’s just feral behavior, but if she is then the researchers would have a field day with her!”

“What do you mean?” You ask tersely as warning bells begin to chime at the back of your mind. “Well, can’t you see what this means? A troll who is autistic AND a wild child? It’s never been documented before! Psychologist, behaviorists, and zoologist would be lining up for miles to pick apart her mind. What a contribution to science she would make! What a-”

“No.” You cut her off and stand up from your chair. “I don’t want Nepeta to be studied like some sort of lab rat. Thank you for the evaluation, Dr. Aranea. If you could email me the results I would be much obliged.”

“Dr. Zahhak, I don’t think you understand. Scientists _need_ to study Nepeta for the greater good of human and troll kind!”

“My answer stands as before. Nepeta will live a normal life with me.”

“You told me Nepeta was brought to your vet clinic like one would bring a stray dog, is that right?” The cunning look Aranea gives you through her narrowed eyes makes the warning bells ring louder in your ears. “I bet this means she has no papers- no birth certificate, no social security number, no records that she even exists. As far as the state is concerned, she’s not a real person. She’s not _even_ a person. She’s just a troll. There is no way for you to claim that she belongs in your custody. You can’t claim her has a pet, we both know that was out lawed. But if having Nepeta studied means furthering our knowledge in the name of science, then I will do everything in my power to see she is property of the state. That is a promise, Dr. Zahhak.”

You’re too shaken to reply. As calmly as you can, you gather up Nepeta and her clothes. You don’t make eye contact as you head for the door, but you can feel her watching you. It feels like you’re dealing with a large predator, like the big cats you’ve treated at zoos. You do everything in your power to remain cool and collected. Show no fear.

Once you’ve shut the door behind you, you book it to your car. You’re sweating like a horse and are in some serious need for a hand towel. Coming here was a mistake. You’ve probably just sentenced Nepeta to life as a lab rat.

Once on the road you’re more relaxed and focused. You may never know if Nepeta will speak or learn to love, but one thing is true and certain for you now; she will not become some experiment or test subject.

And you will not have her taken from you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! Actual Wikipedia quotes! Psychology is fascinating! Read about what I quoted here!:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child  
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period  
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks pass.

Each day from sun rise to sunset you interact with Nepeta non-stop. You talk to her constantly, pointing to objects and naming them, counting numbers, singing the alphabet, naming the colors when she draws with crayons, and naming the shapes when she stacks up toy blocks.

Your heart flutters with hope when she truly begins to recognize and respond to her name, but she is still completely silent.

Each day you dress her and each day Nepeta undresses herself, but each time you try again she gets a little less resistant and lets the clothes stay on longer. The one thing she constantly wears is her make-shift blue teddy bear hat. You guess it’s some progress.

As far as manners go she’s learned the concept of “no” and “stop” and that time-outs are no fun. No biting, no yelling, no hitting or kicking or scratching or throwing. For Nepeta, your house has become a very boring place.

On a whole Nepeta certainly has calmed down since you first brought her home, but maybe it’s because of all your rules. You tried introducing her to the TV, but not even the colorful, lively characters of pre-school shows interest her.

Things do get a bit more exciting whenever you attempt a potty training session, or worse, a bath, but no matter how insistent you are with teaching Nepeta just isn’t willing, or dare you even think unable, to learn.

You get an email from Aranea exactly two weeks from your appointment and it read as follows;

_”Dear Dr. Zahhak,_

_After extensive review, our team can neither confirm nor deny if your child has a true case of autism. We recommend you seek more psychiatrists for another opinion._

_Sincerely,_  
Dr. Aranea  
Child Psychiatrist” 

The results were inconclusive. You dare to let out a sigh of relief, but in your heart you knew you weren’t out of the woods yet.

Nepeta may not have been the scientific wonder Aranea was hoping for, but feral child cases were few and far between, and they would always be an area of interest for researchers. If Aranea was as determined as that day you met her, she could still attempt to have the state take Nepeta away from you on that claim alone.

You can imagine it now, Aranea making some horseshit claim that you had no psychiatric training, and that Nepeta would not be fit in your care. How would you defend yourself against that? How could you prove that you _were_ providing Nepeta with the absolute best care equal to what _they_ could do?

The answer was you couldn’t. You were no lawyer. You didn’t know the loopholes or clever ways of interpreting law to prove you were a competent caregiver. You were a sitting duck, praying that the hunter would decide not to shoot.

You scroll through your inbox and discover that Jade’s sent you an email too. Most of Jade’s emails consist of cute dog pictures or funny cat videos, or even amazing animal tricks. Never anything work related.

You read the subject line. It says “Koko the Gorilla.” 

_”Hi Dr. Zahhak!”_ the email reads. _”I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard of Koko the Gorilla, but did you know she has her own official YouTube channel??? Check it out here!!_

_http://www.youtube.com/kokoflix_

_All the videos are really shot and fun to watch. Animals learning sign language is cool! :D See you next week!_

_Sincerely  
-Jade”_

You follow the link and begin watching one of the videos, hoping they’ll take your mind off things. Wow, Jade was right. Many of these are so short that they don’t even reach a minute in length. Before you know it, you’ve watched all seventy-nine of the videos, but in the end they fail to distract you for long.

You’re curios now though, and on a whim, you begin searching for any information you can find about animals learning sign language.

Apparently Koko the gorilla isn’t the only animal taught sign language. Your searches lead you to Washoe the chimpanzee, Rio the sea lion, and many more. The next thing you know you’re reading up on animal cognition and how a visual symbolic language like ASL could be easier for animals to understand.

Wait, easier? You wonder if…

In two minutes you’ve pulled up a chart of the sign language alphabet and you’ve memorized how to spell your and Nepeta’s names. If you recalled correctly, Nepeta was quick to mimic your actions, especially those with your hands. Could she possibly learn a language even if it was spoken?

“Nepeta, love, let’s play a game.” Nepeta’s too busy working on an artistic master piece with crayons to pay you any mind. Apparently an eight and a half by eleven inch piece of computer paper isn’t big enough because she’s expanded her canvas to your wall.

“Look at me, Nepeta. Watch.” You’re daring enough to wave your hand in her face to get her attention and she finally to you, albeit irritated.

“Nepeta, you know my name is Equius. E-Q-U-I-U-S.” you spell out each letter with your hands while you say them out loud and then point to yourself. “And your name is Nepeta. N-E-P-E-T-A. Can you do that?” You spell out your names a few more times and continue to point between the two of you, all the while Nepeta watches, unblinking with rapt attention.

“Now you try it. It’s a game. Do what I did.”

Nepeta looks down at her own hands and tentatively flexes her fingers. Very gently, you help her shape the letters of her name. “N-E-P-E-T-A. that’s you. Try it on your own.”

N…E…P…T…A. The shapes are sloppy and she forgot the second “E” but it’s close enough. E…Q…U…S. By Jove, you think she’s got it!

Nepeta looks at your hands then into your eyes as if waiting for more. Was that all there was for this game?

You’re too excited to show her the other letters though. If she could learn sign language then you had a chance. You waste no time printing out pamphlets on sign language, and for the rest of the day you and Nepeta practice the alphabet together.

-

Your last week is quickly coming to a close, and like it or not, you’d have to go back to work. A week is also not enough time for you to become fluent in sign language, but now both you and Nepeta knew your “ABCs” like the back of your hand. Literally.

Two days before your time off ended you began looking into sign language centers, but half of the results you found didn’t operate as daycares, and the other half didn’t allow trolls. You were almost about to give up when you came across a small, plain ad, showcasing a center called “Suburb’s School of Signing; A Pre-school/Daycare/Education center focused on teaching children of all ages a second language in signing.”

The more you read the more you liked it. To start, everyone was welcome; deaf, mute, and those with perfect speech and hearing. Apparently they had a substantial staff as well to teach one on one with kids who had poor language skills, and there was nothing that hinted trolls _couldn’t_ come, so you didn’t see why you couldn’t try. Best of all it was close by your work. You decided to take a chance.

“Sleep well tonight, Nepeta,” you tell your tired friend. “Tomorrow is your first day of school.”

-

You’re not sure who is more nervous on the drive to the learning center the next morning. It’s probably you, seeing as Nepeta’s too busy trying to undo the safety locks of her car seat to be nervous. Instead of fighting you when you strapped her in, she watched intently, trying to mimic what you did to undo the locks. You didn’t know whether to be excited about her attention to your actions, or dread it if she eventually manages to figure out the puzzle.

The learning center is quaint, but well-kept with colorful flower beds in full bloom out front. There are quite a lot of cars parked and you can hear the sound of activity just through its doors.

“Well, Nepeta,” you say to her as you undo her seat buckles. “Here goes everything.”

You let Nepeta walk beside you and hold her hand on the way in. Once you open the door, you’re instantly greeted by the sound of children laughing and playing.

“Hello and good morning!” A cheerful voice calls to you. You turn to find a young lady with olive toned skin and ivory hair so long it reached down to the base of her spine. Everything she says sounds a bit too loud and excited. In a way, she reminds you of Jade. “I don’t think I’ve seen your face here before!” she’s signing and speaking simultaneously. “My name is Meulin Legion! How can I help you today?” 

“Y-yes, I’d like to enroll my um… my…” Enroll your what? Daughter? Child? Troll? You’d never thought about your relation to Nepeta before. What was she to you?

“I’d like to enroll Nepeta here into your day care.”

Meulin looks down and gasps in surprise. “Wow! I’ve never taught a troll sign language before! Hello Nepeta,” she signs and says, crouching down to her level. “My name is Meulin. M-E-U-L-I-N.”

Nepeta watches her spell the letters and looks down at her free hand, remembering the game you two had played days before. N…P…T…A. she signs the letters she can remember.

“That w-won’t be a problem, will it?” you ask nervously. “Her being a troll, I-I mean.”

“I don’t see why! Our philosophy here is ‘Anyone and everyone can learn to speak with their hands,’ and as far as I’m concerned, trolls count as ‘anyone’!” Meulin rubs Nepeta’s hair before standing back up. She smiles at you. “Since it’s your first time here, would you like a tour of our facilities?”

“Sure!”

“Great! Follow me!” Meulin leads you through the halls like a tour guide. “Our building was founded in the eighteen hundreds by a family with deaf children! Suburb’s a family name, and in fact, I’m one of their descendants! My great great grandmother changed her name when she was married, so I didn’t keep the name, but I’m still legally deaf thanks to their genes they gave me!” She chuckles and pushes back her hair to reveal a hearing aid. You can’t help but wonder if the volume is turned down and if she can’t hear herself being abnormally loud.

“Over the years we’ve expanded some and hired many professional signers to work one on one with children of all ages and backgrounds! For children who don’t need as much special attention, we teach them together in a classroom! In fact, this class is having playtime right now! See?”

Meulin opens a door and you see at least a dozen children. Some are talking, some are laughing, some are signing, and all are playing.

Beside you, you feel Nepeta stiffen and she grips your hand a bit harder. Her expression is one of complete dumbfounded-ness, and it’s then you realize this is probably the first time she’s ever seen so many people as young and little as her. You almost can’t get her to start walking again because she’s so intrigued by them.

Meulin finishes the tour and takes you back to the front of the building. “Well, now that you know about us, tell me a bit about Nepeta and we can start working on the registration forms!”

“Well, to be honest she was found living as a feral child and can’t say a sing word, but I know for a fact she’s got a voice,” you start. “She’s about three years old, or six and a half by human standards. She doesn’t respond much too spoken words but she’s fascinated by hand gestures which are what gave me the hope that she could learn sign language. She’s independent and stubborn sometimes, has a bad habit of taking off her clothes, oh- and I hate to admit this, but… she’s not potty trained yet.”

Meulin just laughs and pulls out some registration papers. “Sir, don’t you fear. I’ve had tougher students to teach than such a sweet looking girl who’s not potty trained! Once they learn to speak their minds, teaching the rest is a snap! And I’ll be Nepeta’s personal teacher! Hey, if you’ve got nothing to do today, you’re more than welcome to spend her first day with her here! We found that it really helps kids adjust so they’re not as frightened the next day when Mom and Dad leave.”

You agree and finish filling out the registration forms. Once again Meulin takes you to the classrooms. 

“Okay class!” Meulin signs and says. “Play time is over! Let’s clean up and resume our lesson! But before that, I’d like you all to welcome a new student! Everyone, meet Nepeta!”

All at once the kids shift their eyes from Meulin to Nepeta and practically go nuts.

“She’s a troll!” “My family used to have a pet troll!” “Is she our class pet?” “Animals can’t learn sign language!”

Half the kids are shouting, half are frantically signing, and all are crowding too close.

Terrified, Nepeta shimmies up your pant leg and shirt with her sharp retractable claws until she’s safely on your shoulders and out of their reach.

“Now class! This isn’t any way to treat your new classmate! We will all show Nepeta the respect and kindness you give each other!” Meulin interjects. “Now back to your seats! We’re going to learn the names of animals now!”

Reluctantly, the kids all move away and sit on a big round rug in front of a chalk board. You join them in the back, Nepeta still around your shoulders, too scared to come down.

Together you watch and learn the different signs for different animals like bear, tiger, dog, cat, bird, fish, elephant, and so on. When the lesson is over a little girl raises her hand.

“Meulin, what’s the sign for ‘troll’?” she asks.

With both hands in the letter “P”, Meulin holds them at her eyes and simultaneously moves them down to her stomach.

“But Meulin, that’s the sign for ‘person’,” one kid objects.

“Exactly!” Meulin says out loud. “That’s because trolls are not animals! They are people just like us!”

You can’t help but smile. Any doubts or fears you had about this place are gone now. You know you’re going to like this school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DoodleFox blurs the line between fantasy and reality! Real world references and real time events are mixed with the fictitious world! Can we be certain this is really fan fiction? Or is it a narrative based on true events? I DON'T KNOW! http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Funny_5c0404_2781562.jpg
> 
> Obscure joke aside, seriously, go check out the animals mentioned in this chapter! They're really neat!  
> Koko's youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/kokoflix/videos  
> Rio the Sea Lion: http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/other/videos/extraordinary-animals-cerebral-sea-lion.htm  
> Washoe the Chimp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washoe_(chimpanzee)
> 
> Also, let's just pretend I know how a pre-school/daycare/education center works.
> 
> Also, also, If you see a second set of notes at the end of this chapter, I really don't know why AO3 is doing this. The other notes should belong under chapter 1. This has happened before and they ended up repeating in chapter three, but now I see them here under chapter 7. I can't figure out how to fix this, and it looks like they'll keep showing up on the most recent chapter posted. So please, just ignore them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next three chapters are relatively short and in my opinion the pacing isn't that great, but I'm terrible at extending the length of my written works without becoming annoyingly repetitive. For me, brevity is best, but I still have a lot to learn about fluid transitions in my writing.

The next day you have to go to work.

Meulin is waiting at the door when you drop off Nepeta and eagerly leads her inside. Nepeta is so fascinated with her that she doesn’t even notice when you don’t follow.

You’re distracted at work for most of your shift, wondering how Nepeta is doing. Is she paying attention? Is she learning and making connections and beginning to understand? Or is she throwing a temper tantrum right now and tossing her clothes everywhere? Will her classmates accept her or shun her?

“Nice to see you again, Dr. Zahhak!” Jade says when she catches sight of you. “How’s Nepeta doing? I’m surprised you didn’t bring her!”

“She’s at daycare,” you say absently.

“Wow! Really? That little bundle of trouble?”

“She’s calmed down substantially in the past three weeks.”

“More like you managed to sooth the savage beast.” You give Jade a look. “I kid! I kid! But how’s it going? Can she talk yet or anything?”

“No, and she might never, but the daycare I take her to also functions as a sign language learning center, so she might learn that. I have you to thank for giving me the idea.”

“Wow, awesome! Anyway, I’m no longer on the night shift, and I’ll be leaving at eight. See you around!”

After Jade leaves, you throw yourself into your work and try to get stuff done, but it’s hopeless. All you can think about is Nepeta, and as soon as your shift ends you rush to the learning center to get her.

As far as you can tell, Nepeta didn’t even know you were gone. She and Meulin greet you up front and you pick Nepeta up into your arms.

“We sure did learn a lot today! Didn’t we, Nepeta?” Meulin asks. The little troll sighs and shuts her tired eyes.

“Haha, her head must be so full from what she’s learned,” Meulin says quietly. “Goodbye you two! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

It doesn’t take long for you and Nepeta to fall into a routine. From now on you can only take the day shift at the clinic so Nepeta can go to pre-school. At home you sometimes catch Nepeta signing words to herself or to her toys, but did she know what they meant? Maybe she just needed more than a few weeks to realize that words had significance behind them, but you couldn’t push the fear from your mind that she’d never see it.

You inquire Meulin about it a few weeks later. “It is true Nepeta’s learning the signs,” Meulin explains when you ask about her progress. “But so far she still treats it like a game and doesn’t relate the names to the objects. She doesn’t seem to have made the connection yet that these gestures _mean_ something… And I’m sorry to say this, but at her age I just don’t think she ever will.”

Meulin’s opinion shatters your state of denial. For so long you’ve disillusioned yourself, forcing yourself to believe it wasn’t too late- that there was still hope. But lying to yourself was one thing. Hearing your worst fears echoed by others was a much more devastating blow. The thought of Nepeta never learning to express her thoughts or feelings wrecks you inside. You spend many nights wake stressing over it, utterly helpless for what you can’t control. 

When Saturday comes, you take advantage of the weekend classes and leave Nepeta with the Sburb school staff while you take Feferi out on a long overdue date. It isn’t very romantic though, because all you can talk about is Nepeta and vent your feelings to her.

“She doesn’t seem to be getting any better, Feferi,” you mope. “I know she’s a smart girl and I want her to learn so desperately to prove she’s in there and doesn’t have the mind of some animal. Can you believe the child psych threatened to have her taken away from me so she could be studied? I don’t know what I will do if she goes through with it. I guess I was hoping that if Nepeta could learn language and how to be civilized then they wouldn’t have anything from her to study.”

“Oh, love,” Feferi says sympathetically. “I can’t believe someone would try to do that! Don’t forget my family, though, dear. If I ever hear that they’re going to take that sweet child away from you then I’ll do everything in my power to stop them. And I have a lot of power.”

You force a smile. You’re grateful, you really are, and so lucky to have the affection of a woman like Feferi. You know she has the wealth and access to the best lawyers in the world, but you don’t want to fight for Nepeta’s custody in court. You just want her to grow up safe and happy.

The cool spring days go by like a dream. It’s been over a month since you’ve heard from Aranea, but her “promise” is never far from your mind. Although Nepeta’s signing vocabulary grows bigger each day, she still hasn’t used them for actual communication, and as hard as it is, you finally force yourself to accept that she probably never will.

Once you come to terms with this it allows you to move forward. You may not have been able to give her the gift of speech, but the least you could do now was give her a life that was supportive and loving.

It’s a Wednesday night in early April. Apparently school that day didn’t do a good job of tiring her out because she’s a rambunctious ball of energy.

“Come here you little terror!” you growl playfully when she gets underfoot. “I’m gonna getcha!” Nepeta squeals in delight when you sweep her up for a tickle fight. She’s laughing and yelling in that pure child-like way as you twirl her in the air then pin her to the floor on your elbows and knees. You tickle her stomach, feet and ears and she squirms on the floor under your fingers.

She’s laughing so hard she can barely breathe, and because of this you don’t notice that the sound of her laughter is changing, until-

“Ha ha han! Ha han ha ha nnnn! Nnnah ha ha! Na ha ha! Na ha! Nnnno!”

You immediately stop your hands in shock. Did your ears deceive you?

“What… what did you say, Nepeta?”

“Hee hee hee. No.”

Your heart skips a beat. You never thought this moment would come. She’s _talking_.

“Nepeta… you said your first word!” Your voice wavers in joy and your eyes begin to tear up. “Does this mean.. You’re learning? Does this mean you understand?” Nepeta looks you in the eye and for the first time you see a light in them- a glimmer of knowing. “Does this mean you understand… me?” 

Smiling, Nepeta takes a deep breath, opens her mouth wide and-

“No.” 

With a powerful kick, she uses your face as a spring board and launches herself out of your grasp, giggling all the way out of the room.

You hardly felt it though. All your worries and fears have just been washed away by one word- her first word! Hopefully the first of many. Nepeta had finally found her voice and now she was going to let everyone hear it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short, fluffy chapter where everything good happens, everything's predictable, and everyone lives happily ever after. The End.
> 
> Wait, what do you mean there's still six chapters to go?
> 
> God _dammit._

Her first word was just the first step. A couple of days later you get an excited phone call from Meulin reporting to you how Nepeta had a break through. She had suddenly grasped that signs were actually names for actions and things and not just some game. 

Nepeta would excitedly point and sign with wonder in her eyes; “This _is_ a doll!” “This _is_ a desk!” “I _am_ Nepeta!” The connection had been made, the bridge built, and suddenly the world was opening up before the little troll.

“Nepeta, I have a big job for you!” Meulin says to her one day when you come to pick her up from school. “Now that you know some words, do you think you can teach them to Equius? He can’t talk with his hands because he doesn’t know any!”

Nepeta looks at you, assessing the challenge. You figure that she’s up for it though, because all the way home she’s pointing and signing. As much as you‘d love to join in, you must keep both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Nepeta isn’t discouraged, though. Once you’re home she’s searching the house for things she recognizes- handing you objects and signing their names. She doesn’t stop until you know all the signs for book, towel, shirt, pants, fork spoon, cup, and even milk.

The only thing that frustrates her is not knowing the names for things. She points and looks at you expectantly, but all you can give her is the spoken word which she had a harder time grasping.

Meulin was right about one thing though. Now that she could string together words and get a meaning out of them, you could talk to her and she could talk back. With much help from Meulin, you learn the signs for bathroom and toilet, and within another week Nepeta is potty trained.

Nepeta’s spontaneous progress is happening so fast, you can barely believe it. Compared to her signing, her speech is slow, but getting there. She’s already added the words “want”, “hungry”, and “more” to her verbal lexicon, as well as both your names. She still has a little trouble getting the last syllable of your name to come out right, and it sounds more like “Equs” rather than “Equius”.

You’re also changing, although you don’t notice it. Jade and your staff say you’ve turned into a PTA parent, raving on and on about your child. Deep down they’re all proud, you just know they are. How could they not be?

Feferi comes over often to visit and slowly but surely Nepeta warms up to her. After a shaky start the two of them look like they’re on the fast track to friendship.

“Oh, Equius! I knew she could do it!” Feferi cuddles you while Nepeta shows her all the signs for each letter of the alphabet. “I knew she was clever enough to learn the minute I saw her!” 

“Not only did she learn, Feferi, but her teacher Meulin says she’s learning fast than any student there. Faster than any student she’s ever had, even! I can’t tell you how relieved this makes me.”

“Oh believe me, love, I do,” Feferi says. “I’m so glad she’s finally learning because for the longest time I’ve been waiting-” Feferi stops short and blushes.

“Waiting?” you pry. “Waiting for what?”

“Oh… nothing…” Feferi avoids your eyes then whispers under her breath; “I had it so much more romantically planned than this.”

“You had what planned?” You ask too curious to ignore the slip up now. 

“Well… I had been thinking about asking you something on the date we had a few months ago. You know, our first one after Nepeta was brought to the vet? But seeing how tired and stressed you were, I decided to wait. But then things just kept getting pushed back as you took time off to care for her, and I know that that doctor Aranea may still be a problem, but just for right now we have a moment of peace and all is right with the world… I don’t want to ruin it…”

Feferi trails off. You wait for her to start again, but when she doesn’t you take a change and ask. “What… what were you going to ask me?”

Feferi blushes a deep red and smiles wide and nervous. “Oh… It’s just so against tradition for the girl to ask the guy, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I think you and I just work well together and-“ Feferi stops looking nervously around the room and locks her eyes with yours. 

“Equius. Will you marry me?”

Your mind goes blank and your mouth stops working. Feferi, the most amazing woman to have ever graced the planet was asking for _your_ permission to you marry _you?_ She was right; it should have been you asking for _her_ permission!

Feferi begins to anxiously speak when you don’t reply. “Oh, I knew I should have waited more! I’m sorry! I know your life’s busy right now, now that you’re raising Nepeta! I should have never let that slip. If you don’t want to-”

“Yes!” You finally manage to blurt out. “Yes, of course I’ll merry you, Feferi! Don’t be upset. I’m sorry I kept you waiting!”

Feferi grins from ear to ear and tears of joy begin leaking from her eyes. She jumps on you then, giving you the longest most passionate kiss you’ve ever experienced, and this time it makes your mind go off like fireworks.

You don’t notice Nepeta watching from the top of the stairs. The little troll pulls a face then signs the word for “gross” before heading off in search of something more fun to do. Grown-ups sure are weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As if we didn't all see that coming from a mile away. I mean, come on, I even put "wedding" in the tags.
> 
> You know, I never knew how to feel about the Feferi/Equius ship when I first read UFUT. I didn't hate it, it was just new and different to me- something that I never considered. 
> 
> I guess so long as a fan fiction doesn't infringe on my otp (john/vriska) i'm pretty okay with any ship out there. Nothing personal to the writers, I guess I should say as a disclaimer. I'm just too emotionally invested in this pairing to tolerate anything else, but I'd NEVER try to stop someone from writing what they want. (It's not you, it's 100% me)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another short chapter in which a conflict arises and is resolved in two seconds because I'm terrible at holding suspense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that previous chapter was so short, I managed to finish typing another! (granted, it is past midnight now so the publish date for this one will be different, but MAN I am just blazing through this.)
> 
> Okay, so, if you haven't read "Before I Sleep" by Emptyfeet, you really should go do that now. And if you HAVE, then i just want to make a disclaimer that I wrote and started typing this work before she did and thus had no idea she was going to put Horuss in her story. The Horuss in "Before I Sleep" is more portrayed as Darkleer, whereas Horuss here in "Wild Child" is more along the lines of the horse dildo holding dancestor we know from the flash games. Horuss is mentioned in this chapter, but because I'm a sucker for wanting to tie as many fan fictions together in one glorious cluster fuck, this Horuss shall technically be "Horuss Jr." It would fit the personalities and timelines between these two stories better anyway.

Everything was just so… _right_ with the world! You were going to get married, Nepeta was learning at a phenomenal rate, you were going to get married, Aranea seemed like a thing of the past, and oh, don’t forget! You were going to get married!

You felt like nothing could go wrong, nothing could touch you.

To help with Nepeta’s speech, you invented a new game. Whenever Nepeta pointed to an object, she would sign its name and you had to sign it back then say it out loud. When you pointed to an object, she would repeat it then sign the name. It was a great way for both of you to practice signing and speaking.

When you weren’t focused on Nepeta your mind was focused on your engagement. You should start looking into wedding planners and churches and priests and tuxedos and write up a guest list. Who would be there? You had lost touch with most of your family, except maybe your cousin Horuss who still sent you the odd letter every major holiday or so, but it’s been years since you actually last talked. Still, it would be courteous to invite him. You also invite Jade, of course, but you’re not sure who else. You’re not the kind of person who has many close friends.

Shit, what about engagement rings and wedding rings? You totally forgot about those!

As for the wedding itself, you and Feferi agreed that it should be held at the end of the year, preferably on a beautiful white, winter day. Your fantasies were of a sparkling winter wonderland with a gentle snowfall to symbolize purity, tranquility, and the promise of new beginnings. You don’t care if the weather conditions needed for your wedding would leave you or your guests freezing their behinds off. Your love would keep you warm.

“Hey, Dr. Zahhak!” Jade says to you. “Are you alright? You’ve been kind of out of it all day and you have this funny look on your face.”

You flinch a little, suddenly aware that you are at work and should be focusing on work instead of your wedding. There would be plenty of time for that later.

“I’m alright. I’m sorry if I seem a little distracted. Feferi and I are engaged and I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

“You’re engaged? Congratulations! Tell me, how did you propose? What was her reaction?”

“Actually, she asked me.”

“She did?” Jade smiles with intense interest. “Excuse me a second.” Jade quickly exits the room and you hear her talking to another vet, saying the words “I was right! Pay up!”

You suddenly have the sinking suspicion that someone made a bet on you. How very unprofessional in the work place. You’d have to have a talk with Ms. Harley later.

“So tell me what your wedding’s going to be like!” Jade says when she returns. “Oh, I can just see it now! Feferi in a gorgeous gown walking down the aisle! And Nepeta as a flower girl! She would be too cute!”

“We still have a lot of planning to do,” you admit. “But I just know it’s going to be perfect.”

-

It was just after dinner and before Nepeta’s bath time when there was a knock on your door. You were greeted by a man dressed in a formal grey suit.

“Hello, Dr. Zahhak. I am a social worker with child protective services here to invest a claim that you are providing inadequate care to a young child.

“Our background checks for you indicate no criminal history or records of child adoption, but our source was insistent that you had one. May I come in?”

Your heart begins to accelerate. So Aranea had come through after all.

“Of course,” you say, too confident by your current good fortune to feel fear. “I must say your anonymous tip provider is correct. I have adopted a child, if only informally. People have been very reluctant to work with me on making her a truly recognized U.S. citizen. Nepeta, love, could you come here for a moment?”

Nepeta meets you and the social worker in the parlor. She’s curious about the visitor, but cautious that it is a ploy for you to catch her and force her to take a bath.

The social worker raises an eyebrow in confusion. “This is the child in question? This isn’t a child, it’s a troll! The guys back at the office were right when they said that lady was wasting our time, and I’m sorry to have wasted yours.”

You could have just left it there. You could have just let that man go, and left it at that. Aranea’s threats would have dissolved into thin air, but no. You were not going to let someone’s views on what a troll was be the justification of why there was no child neglect. There was no child neglect because you were not causing any neglect, NOT because there was no child.

“Now hold on a minute,” you say authoritatively before the social worker leaves. “I’m not going to pick and choose, pretending when a troll isn’t human so it works in my favor. Nepeta is my child and I provide her with the absolute best care any parent could give, but it’s because of views and beliefs like yours that prevent her and all trolls the equality they need- no, the equality they _deserve_.

“Now I want you to do that investigation. I want you to write back to your anonymous source detailing how I passed your inspection with flying colors. Trolls may not be humans, but they are still people.”

“Yeah!” Nepeta chimes in, and cheerfully starts swinging from your arm. “Nepeta is no human, but Nepeta is people!”

The social worker studies Nepeta for a long moment then looks to you. “Our anonymous source claimed that you kept a feral child you didn’t clothe, socialize, or teach to speak. I can tell just from looking that none of these are true.”

“It was true at first,” you cut in. “When I first met Nepeta she couldn’t speak or understand a word I said. Now she’s in school and at the top of her class. 

The social worker is silent for a minute, his expression unreadable. “If you’re so passionate about treating your little girl here as a person, I can help you get one step further. You said you couldn’t get official adoption records because she’s a troll, right? Like I said, I work with child protective services. I could help with that.”

Your eyes go wide. “Are you serious?” 

“Yeah. And maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time to stop treating trolls as if they’re something between animals and humans. It would be a small step toward that goal on my part, but it’s still a step none the less.”

“I… I don’t know what to say… Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. Just show to the world what you just showed to me,” he smiles gently at you and Nepeta. “Prove to the world that just because trolls aren’t human doesn’t mean they’re not people. Good luck, Dr. Zahhak.”

-

You wish you could explain it. Maybe it was karma, or the alignment of the stars or something, but you were having an unbelievable amount of good fortune and you were scared to see it end.

When it happened it didn’t so much affect your physical being as it did your emotions.

It happened at night, after you tucked Nepeta into bed. You were watching the evening news when a special report came on about troll peaceful protests.

Apparently trolls across the nation were preforming sit-ins, sit-downs, strikes and vigils of all types and for all reasons. Some were to challenge businesses that refused them service because of “No Trolls Allowed” policies, some were challenging unfair court sentences much like the infamous Scratch case three years back, and how all trolls who have been through court since then were still getting euthanization sentences instead of incarceration. Some challenged segregation in the work force, in the military, in the school systems and every other public setting you could think of, and all demanded equal representation and access to health insurance, life insurance, and education.

The news report didn’t stop there, though. It went on to show graphic footage of police using pepper spray, attack dogs and fire hoses to break up these protests. It was sickening to watch and you felt like the world was thrown back into the 1960’s when the same thing was happening to your parents.

You had a hard time falling asleep that night. You couldn’t erase the vivid images of the news from your mind. What was worse was that you started imagining Nepeta in those situations. If this continued in society, then the next thing to follow peaceful protests would be hate crimes, lynchings and murders of the innocent. Even now, more than fifty years later, the problem hasn’t completely gone away. How could Nepeta grow up safe and independent if history was destined to repeat itself?

You don’t know how late you stay up worrying, but exhaustion eventually wins you over and you fall into an uneasy sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry for disappearing again. Tests, group projects, study groups and social life have been demanding my time. AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON TWITCH PLAYS POKEMON.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! Exposition and time skips! Oh, what's this? A set up to another possible conflict?? Where will this take us?

Summer finally rolls around. The change of the seasons doesn’t make the clinic any less busy. If anything, the work load increases as adults and kids are at home more and suddenly remember that they have a pet that needs to be cared for as well instead of ignored and left in the house all day while they’re at work and school.

It is easier for busy families to schedule annual checkups during the summer when they have more time off, but the majority of pet parents that come through during these months lean more on the irresponsible side. You guess you should be glad they come in at all, though you wish they wouldn’t complain about the medical bill.

Sometimes you contemplate buying a giant poster reading “If you can’t afford the vet, don’t own a pet.” You always decide against it, though. It would be very unprofessional.

The coming of summer also means the end of the school year. Technically Nepeta was in day care still, so the school year calendar did not apply to her, but for all intents and purposes you and Meulin agreed Nepeta was now in summer school to teach her what she would have learned in kindergarten. With any luck, Nepeta would be starting the first grade this fall in a real public school without being a year behind. 

It’s hard to believe that a little over two months ago Nepeta couldn’t utter a single word. Now it was almost impossible to get her to stop. Her grammar still needed some work, and she still hadn’t quite grasped the use of pronouns as she always referred to herself in the third person, but she talked so much about everything that you were sure she would get it with time. In fact, she was speaking so much now that you and Meulin had gradually weaned her off sign language and began teaching her to read and write.

As Nepeta’s speech flourished, so did her personality. You always knew she was full of character, but as she grew and learned you noticed charming habits about her. One was that she never truly lost her feline quirks. She’d purr and hiss and replace parts of words to sound more cat-like, such as “purrfect” instead of “perfect” and “meowsic” instead of “music”. 

Three was her favorite number was three and her favorite color was olive green like her blood, but she had an unexplainable hatred for all things purple, be it crayon or clothes and especially food, including red grapes, cabbage, radishes and red onions.

She developed a taste for tea and her favorite super hero was a tie between cat woman and wolverine. Even after two months she still wore her blue teddy bear hat and had developed a talent for drawing. She especially loved to play pretend or “purrtend” as she would say.

Much like learning to speak, Nepeta absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Each day after summer school she’d tell you how she learned yellow and blue made the color green, or how to count by twos, by fives, and by tens all the way to a hundred, how caterpillars turn into butterflies, or how the seasons changed. Before long she could read simple books buy Dr. Seuss and every night when she read “The Cat in the Hat” to you, the struggle trolls were fighting for equal rights seemed distant or non-existing all together.

As for your wedding, Feferi had been busy. She had written up a guest list with over a hundred people, interviewed a dozen wedding planners and tried on over fifty dresses. The theme would be “winter” and everyone was asked to come in white. Thankfully Feferi already picked out a white tux for you and a simple white gown for Nepeta.

You weren’t sure if Nepeta knew yet what the wedding would mean. She seemed to understand that Feferi would one day live with you both, but that was about it. You made sure Nepeta knew that she could ask questions about the wedding, but either she had none or just wasn’t interested enough in the whole affair. Winter was far away and summer was now.

The days were long and the nights were warm. Often at the end of each day the two of you would go for walks or trips to the park. Nepeta seemed to get along with everyone she met, adult, kid, or other troll. You were glad your neighborhood was so accepting, but in your heart you knew the rest of the world wasn’t like this.

About two months into summer you got a thick envelope in the mail. It was addressed from the child protective services and you were overjoyed to find every paper imaginable needed for Nepeta. A birth certificate based on the information you were able to provide, proof of citizenship, passport, social security number, adoption papers, and even a personal note form the social worker himself.

_“Sorry it took me so long to get this all through the system. Some folks here still think trolls don’t deserve these. I hope you’re still trying to prove them wrong!”_

You can’t help but think of the note every time you Nepeta make a stranger smile. You were getting there. Slowly but surely, you were getting there.

\--

All things must come to an end. Even summer vacation. A few weeks before school started, Meulin came to you explaining that Nepeta had learned everything she could teach her and could offer no more. Nepeta could still stay for daycare, but you wanted to spend as much time with her as you could before school started.

“She is the brightest, smartest, most eager student I’ve ever taught,” Meulin says sadly as she hugs Nepeta good-bye for the last time. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I will miss Meulin too,” Nepeta says mournfully. “But Equius says Nepeta can help at the vet!”

“Really? Well then you take extra good care of all the dogs and cats okay?”

“Nepeta will!”

After that Nepeta was the newest assistant at the clinic. Of course she wasn’t allowed to handle any medical equipment or any of the animals, but she was eager to greet people on their way in and bid them farewell on their way out.

Have Nepeta as a welcome was even a great way to subtly win people’s affection for trolls. Not a day went by where Nepeta wasn’t praised with “you’re so cute!” “You are so polite!” “You are just precious.” “Thank you for being so kind!”

As summer began to wind down, you began looking into schools. You had already ruled out schools with segregation that taught human only classes and troll only classes. You wanted complete and total equality.

You finally come across a school called Alternia elementary that has mixed classes. Apparently they were one of the first schools to integrate trolls shortly after they were declared no longer as pets. They’re test scores were good and the school was in a safe, well-kept neighborhood. It couldn’t be any more perfect.

One day at the clinic right before your shift ended you received a very unexpected visitor.

You weren’t paying attention, but Nepeta was, sitting on the counter and watching the front door. She suddenly began speaking excitedly. “Hi! Hi! Nepeta knows you! Nepeta knows you!”

You half expect it to be someone Nepeta recognizes from summer school, but when you look up from your paperwork your heart nearly stops.

It’s Aranea.

“Why hello, Nepeta!” She says with false sweetness. “It’s been a while. My, you’ve gotten tall!”

“Hello, how can I help you?” you ask professionally. Emotionlessly.

“Oh, I just wanted to find you and apologize to you in person.”

Apologize? Really? After the threats she made to you? You didn’t believe it.

“As you might have guessed, I sent a social worker to see if you were really taking as good care of Nepeta as you said you were, and after months they get back to me with papers telling me you adopted her as a member of the family.”

“That’s correct,” you say tersely, not wanting to talk to this woman.

“Well congratulations, and I’m sorry for any trouble I might have caused.”

‘You only caused weeks of sleeplessness and constant worry I might lose something precious to me,’ you think. ‘But no biggie, I forgive you.’

“Say, Nepeta,” Aranea asks the young troll. “How are you doing? Do you like living with your… um, with Dr. Zahhak?”

You feel yourself starting to get irritated. Aranea’s questions are harmless enough, but you just don’t want her talking to Nepeta after what she’s put you through.

“Yes, yes!” Nepeta answers early. “Equius taught me how to talk with my hands and with voice!”

“And you feel safe at home with Dr. Zahhak? He’s not mean to you in anyway?”

“No, no, no. Equius is nice. Equius reads to me and kisses me goodnight. Oh, but Equius makes me take baths. I do not like. Equius holds me in the water.”

“Nepeta, here’s one more question. What is Equius to you? And what are you to him?”

You knit your brow. What kind of question was that? Nepeta tips her head in confusion, not understanding the question.

“Is Equius like a dad to you? Or a brother? Are you like a sister to him, or a daughter?”

Nepeta looks at you and thinks hard. She had asked you a similar question before some time ago, and you explained that you were technically not father and daughter by blood, and somehow ended up ended up explaining where babies come from instead. It’s only now that you realize that you confirmed what you and Nepeta were _not_ and not what you were.

“Oh! Nepeta is Equius’ love!” Nepeta says after a pause. You can’t help but smile. She was referencing how every morning you would wish her a good day at school and before you tucked her in for bed each night you when you’d tell her “have a good day, my love,” and “sweet dreams, my love,” as a term of endearment.

But you can tell Aranea doesn’t see it that way. She looks your way for just a second, but you catch despise in her eyes.

“Oh, well that’s… good to hear!” She says with a façade of happiness. “I also hear you’re starting the first grade in a few days. Good luck in school!”

Aranea abruptly leaves and you breathe a sigh of relief, glad to see her go. You hoped that would be the last time you had to deal with Aranea and her shenanigans, but something in your heart tells you it’s not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I make Nepeta dislike the color purple? BECAUSE GAMZEE KILLED HER AND I HAVEN'T FORGIVEN HIM FOR THAT.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I really shouldn't drink an entire bottle of dr pepper before bed. Now I'll be awake for hours. I wonder how many more chapters I can finish typing.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer; I have read "Before I Sleep", but once again, I finished writing this entire story before B.I.S. even started posting, so I didn't know it too was going to make references to the March on Washington. And like before, I'm a sucker for intertwining as many stories as I can, so let's just make this mysterious short-horned troll Kankri, shall we? I know it's a bit out of character, but hey, it works.

It’s the first Monday in August. The school year starts nearly three weeks earlier for Alternia Elementary than any other school, but it also ends earlier too. Still, you can’t help but feel like precious time that you could have spent with Nepeta is being robbed from you.

Feferi comes to help you see Nepeta off on her first day. You know she’ll be there for moral support and to start becoming more of a permanent figure in your lives so it won’t be so sudden after the wedding. You’re grateful for her presence. You think you’ll need it more than Nepeta does.

Monday morning Nepeta’s the first one up. She’s excited and already dressed in her favorite outfit- a white shirt with cat print on it in all colors, even purple.

“It’s school! It’s school!” She sings to you ten minutes before your alarm goes off. “Can have eggs and waffles and strawberry breakfast?” Nepeta had a habit of accidentally leaving out words in her sentences when she was really excited. “And tea drink! Please! Please! Please!”

“Yes, yes, yes, and no.” You say without opening your eyes. “Tea is a lunch and dinner drink. You can have orange juice, apple juice, milk or water for breakfast. Too much tea will ruin your teeth.”

Nepeta throws a two second fit then gets over it. Today is too exciting to be upset for long. Today she was going to a big school with lots of other kids, both human and troll! Would they like to play “purrtend”? Would any know how to speak in sign? Would they all be her “furrend”? Nepeta had asked you these questions a thousand times over and a thousand times you told her it was up to her to find out.

Feferi arrives shortly after Nepeta finishes her breakfast while you make her lunch. For the first day it’s a classic peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a cup of apple sauce and a plastic baggie of carrot sticks. You pack her a water bottle and a small thermos of sweet tea as a surprise. 

You head into the parlor with Nepeta’s lunch to find your two girls taking pictures for the first day of school. Nepeta’s beaming wide. She’s doing her best to stand still for Feferi’s camera, but she’s antsy with excitement.

You kiss them both on the cheeks and herd them to the car.

The school parking lot is packed with kids and parents. You fight for a parking spot and manage to nab one. Despite the chaos and all the people, Nepeta looks thrilled about it.

The three of you head inside and make quick work of finding the first grade classroom. The classes are small in number, assuring a fair amount of student-teacher one on one time. There are also a good number of trolls mixed in, and you’re elated to see a troll and parent you recognize. It’s Dave and Karkat!

“Mr. Strider!” you wave enthusiastically and make your way over. Nepeta boldly bounds ahead while Karkat clutches Dave’s pant leg.

“Whoa, Dr. Z, is that really you?” Dave looks down and catches sight of Nepeta trying to pull Karkat off him so she can get a good look at his face. “This must be Nepeta, then! Jade’s been keeping us posted on all your latest adventures, Dr. Z. Speaking of which, that same little birdy told me that you two are getting hitched.”

“It’s true! We’re engaged!” Feferi squeals and hugs you. “We’re planning on holding the wedding in December and all of you are invited. Dave, Karkat, Sollux and your brother Dirk. Speaking of which, where are the other two?”

“Oh, they’re at a human-troll middle school. Sollux’s gonna be in the sixth grade.”

“Wow, but isn’t he only five?”

“In troll years, yes, but he’s already eleven by human years. That kid is a wizard at math and science. In fact, he’s actually skipping a grade.”

“Stop! Go away!” Karkat cries as Nepeta pulls on his shirt.

“Troll like me! Troll like me!” Nepeta chants, obviously ecstatic at finding a classmate like her.

“Now, love,” you say to Nepeta. “Leave poor Karkat alone. You’ll have plenty of breaks and recesses to play with him.”

“Alright, little man,” Dave instructs to Karkat. “I gotta go now, but I promise that you’re gonna have a helluva good time at school. So just pay attention, mind you teacher, make some friends and above all, have fun. I’ll see you at three.”

“Have a great first day, sweetheart!” Feferi hugs and kisses Nepeta all over. “Remember your manners and play nice! Equius will pick you up when school is done!” You both give your last hugs and say your last goodbyes.

You can’t help but look over your shoulder as you leave, wondering if she’s watching you go and suddenly realizing that she’s alone in a new place with new people she’s never met, and waiting forlornly for you to return.

But no, it’s quite the opposite. As soon as you turn your back, Nepeta’s stashing her back pack in the cubby with her name and finding her seat. She acts as if she’s a veteran for first days of school and her independent nature almost breaks your heart. You’re very thankful then that Feferi came. It turned out you did need her comfort a lot more.

\--

The end of the school day is just as hectic as this morning. You come alone as Feferi’s busy with her own job. Nepeta’s in her classroom playing with a group of kids, humans and trolls alike. When she sees you, she jumps up and bids them farewell.

“Hello, love. How was your first day?”

“We played games!” Nepeta simply states as if that explained it all.

“Oh really? And who were all those kids you were playing with? Are they your new friends?”

Nepeta stops to remember they’re names. “Karkat, Roxy, Kanaya, Latula, Jane. All girls, not Karkat. Three trolls!” Nepeta skips a little, absolutely giddy that the number of troll friends she made today was equal to her favorite number of all time.

“Well, I’m glad to hear you had a good time, love,” you chuckle. “Tomorrow you’ll get to do it again.”

From then on out each day you take Nepeta to school and each day the heart ache of separation from her hurts a little less. Life otherwise returns to normality. You take care of pets, you do paper work, and- oh, let’s not forget the wedding! That’s still a thing.

Feferi put you in charge of the RSVP list. Apparently everyone Feferi’s ever met is coming, whereas the only names you recognize are your own, the Striders, and Jade.

Already you’re being showered with wedding gifts by people who can’t make it, including your cousin.

_”Hey cousin, it’s Horuss. Congratulations on getting married! Sorry I won’t be able to make it, but I sent you a little gift for you to keep all to yourself. Just remember, if your lovely wife ever fails to satisfy, I’ve got you covered.”_

What the heck does that mean? Whatever, Horuss has always been weird. You unwrap his gift. And what the heck is this? It’s cylindrical, rubbery, very large, long, and-

Oh.

Oh dear God. You know what this is. Dammit, Horuss. You wish you could think that this was a prank gift, but you know him too well that it’s not. Horuss has never had a sense of humor. He barely understands it.

It was a bad idea to invite Horuss anyway. You’ve always known that he’s had some weird fetishes and you’ll admit that you may have had one or two kinks when you were younger, but you _definitely_ grew out of them. The fact that Horuss just gave you… this… probably means you two didn’t keep in touch as well as you thought for him to know better.

You need to get rid of this thing now. Holding it is making you uncomfortable and sweaty. You don’t even bother with the kitchen trash. You go straight to the outdoor garbage can and toss it in where no one would find it. Thank God trash day is tomorrow.

\--

There’s big commotion towards the end of August. Apparently word was going around that trolls and humans were going to recreate the iconic March on Washington of 1963 to demand equality. There were also rumors that police and possibly even military forces would try to stop them, which would blatantly ignore the people’s rights to petition covered under the first amendment. Well, the humans’ rights anyway…

The target date was the 28th, just like the original March on Washington’s date. That would be on a Saturday this year. You and Nepeta could probably watch the history making movement on TV.

When Saturday did come around, you sat in the living room with Nepeta on your lap while you watched the news. You explained your best beforehand how trolls were being oppressed and segregated just because they weren’t technically human. Nepeta only nodded silently, seeming to understand the gravity of the situation.

When the march started, the video cut to live feed. Both your eyes and Nepeta’s go wide with awe. Thousands upon thousands of trolls and humans of all blood color and race are marching peacefully past the Washington monument and up to the Lincoln Memorial.

No police or military were there to stop them. They couldn’t have even if they tried. There had to be over three thousand people there, more than Martin Luther King’s walk on Washington attracted, that’s for sure.

A troll took to the stage. You could tell from his short horns and red irises that he is a mutant just like Karkat, and you can’t help but wonder if they are possible related.

When the troll begins speaking, you help explain any big words to Nepeta. You can tell where this troll took inspiration from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but these words are all his own. His emotion is raw and his imagery- powerful. After a few minutes you stop trying to simplify it to Nepeta and both of you just listen.

The speaker paints a vivid picture of how trolls were treated like animals; beaten like dogs and handled like livestock, how they were accused as humans and punished as beasts, yet denied any kind of help because at the same time they were neither.

Amazingly, this troll somehow managed to pack his entire speech in under ten minutes, but the pure empathetic feeling he left you with stayed long after.

When his speech ended and he gave his final bow, the crowd roared and cheered. The live camera crews sprang into action with reporters asking trolls on the scene to recount what just happened.

“To start with, who was that?” The news reporter asked. “He didn’t give his name and vanished as soon as he finished.”

“He has no name,” Said a rust blood. “All we know is that he put this whole thing together.”

“He just summoned us for the cause and we answered the call,” a teal blood added. 

“Everything he says, he speaks from his own experiences,” says a yellow blood. 

“He has suffered more than any of us.” An indigo blood said. “And that’s all even we know.”

With the speech and main fanfare over, you switch off the T.V.

“So what happen now?” Nepeta asks you.

“Well, for Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, it helped pass the Civil Rights Act. I’m thinking there’s a Troll Rights Act in congress right now hoping to do the same thing, and if it goes through, then people will have no choice but to acknowledge you and all trolls as people and not animals.”

“I don’t mind being an animal,” Nepeta says, pretending to get into a hunter’s crouch.

“I know you like acting like one, but pretending to be an animal and being treated like one are two very different things, and it’s my hope you’ll never be treated as one,” you say, getting up and heading into the kitchen. “Come on, now. It’s time for lunch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, Like I said a few chapters ago, this Horuss is closer to the horse dildo holding dancestor we know from the comic, being every bit as inappropriate here as well.
> 
> How rude.
> 
> Oh, and here's Nepeta's shirt (but just imagine the cats all rainbow colored): http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=55767613


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The caffeine is wearing off. Dare I go to sleep only to leave you on a cliff hanger for who knows how long??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nepeta takes shit from no one.

September comes, and with it, the first signs of fall. 

Nepeta goes on her first school field trip to the state park where she learned about the wild life, the trees, and the geology of the land. Ever since that trip she’s been begging to go back, but whenever you ask why she only says that it’s “really, really, reeeaaally important.”

You didn’t find out why until three weeks later when you get a call during work from Nepeta’s school. She had been in a fight.

You pick her up from school early, apologizing to the mother of the human boy Nepeta had beaten the shit out of. 

“I knew trolls attending school would be a bad idea from the start!” the mom rants. “I just knew it! You can be certain I’ll be reporting this to the authorities!”

“She’s just a child!” you try to defend Nepeta.

“No, _it’s_ a wild animal!” The lady shouts as she carries her son out of the building. You don’t get a good look at him, but from what you can see of him is covered in many thin scratches and bite marks.

There’s not a scratch on Nepeta. God, you don’t even know _why_ Nepeta attacked him. When you ask, she ignores you and you eventually give up. Once in the car, she glues her eyes to the window and doesn’t say a word.

Her expression is surly, and she doesn’t show one hint of guilt or remorse. What the heck happened?

“Take me to the state park.” She demands.

“Why should I?” you counter. “You attacked a classmate and won’t tell me why. Why should I reward you with a trip to the state park?”

“I can show you why at the park. But only at the park, or not at all.”

You consider being strict and ponder the outcomes of refusing until she tells you what happened, but you know in your heart Nepeta’s too strong willed to give into any serious punishment you try to enforce.

You sigh in defeat and get on the exit for the highway. Half an hour later you’re at the state park. Nepeta rushes in before you even have a chance to pay for your parking and you have to run to catch up with her.

She marches purposely, as if she’s on a mission. For a while she just leads you down a well-worn trail before she surprises you by suddenly plunging into the woods.

“Nepeta, what are you doing? We can’t go off the trails, Nepeta! Come back!”

She ignores you, heading deeper into the forest, and now you’re scrambling over rocks and uneven earth to keep up. Deeper and deeper into the woods she leads you, and farther and farther away from any sign of civilization.

Soon you’re struggling to keep up. You’re out of breath and covered in scrapes and dirt. You’re not sure how much longer you can go on, but you’re despite to keep Nepeta in your line of sight.

Finally she stops in a small clearing. She gives you a signal to be quiet. You look around the clearing, but see nothing. Why did she lead you here? How did she even know this was here?

Nepeta cups her hands around her mouth and makes a noise you had never heard from her before. It sounds like the cat noises she makes when she role plays, but longer and raspier.

You wait for several minutes, but nothing happens. Nepeta is still as a statue, waiting for something.

And then,

“Look.” Nepeta points to the trees. You follow her line of sight and gasp. There, standing at the tree line no more than a dozen feet away from you, is a wild mountain lion. You can’t believe it. You thought all the mountain lions had been pushed out of the northeast.

It’s staring at you, eyes gleaming with interest, but makes no moves toward you, and thankfully Nepeta doesn’t move towards it. After a while, the mountain lion turns around and melts back into the trees, and Nepeta looks at you.

“That was my mom.”

“What?” You say in utter confusion. 

“She raised me before I met you.”

“How can you tell it was her?” you ask.

Nepeta points to her chin. “Scar. It looks like she has two mouth. I remembered this park on the field trip. This was my home before your home.”

Nepeta leads you back to the trail. You’re still silent, lost in thought. Nepeta had been taken in by a mountain lion? That certainly would explain all her cat like behavior. Still, you could hardly believe it to be true. It felt like a fairy tale!

Back on the main path Nepeta begins to speak.

“Today we learned about families,” she said. “Mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, uncle, cousin, brother, sister. I already know it all from Meulin. Teacher asked us to go around and say who is in our family. Karkat has three “bros” and Kanaya has a mom, but that kid said trolls don’t have real families. He said real troll mom and dads abad-… abandon the babies and our families are fake and fake families have fake love. He hurt Karkat and Kanaya and all the trolls’ feelings so I hurt him back.”

Nepeta’s voice is so dead pan and again she shows no sign of remorse for her actions.

She looks up. “What are Nepeta and Equius?” It’s the same question Aranea had asked you months before, and the same one you yourself wondered when you enrolled Nepeta at Meulin’s school. You had asked yourself the same thing many times after that, but still weren’t entirely sure.

“What do you want us to be?” You ask back. “Father and daughter?”

Nepeta shakes her head “no.”

“Brother and sister?”

Nepeta shakes her head even harder. 

“Best friends?”

“More than furrends,” she says. “You’re love?”

“You already are my love,” you say and scoop her up so she can ride on your shoulders. “But you do know you shouldn’t hurt people, even if they hurt you first, alright? You need to be the better person. You’re going to apologize to that boy tomorrow if his parents ever bring him back, or I’ll never let you drink tea again.”

“Okay,” Nepeta says reluctantly. You leave the park and this time the atmosphere in the car is much more relaxed.

\--

That night during dinner, your meal is interrupted by a knock on the door. You try to ignore it, hoping it’s a sales person, but they’re persistent and you reluctantly answer.

There are two police officers at the door.

“Are you Mr. Equius Zahhak?” one of them asks.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“We were sent here with child protective services. You have been under investigation for the past two months and we have reason to believe you have either physically or sexually assaulted a child and we’ll be taking you down to the station for further questioning.”

Wait what.

“We’ll be taking custody of the child in question in the meantime, so please step into the car.”

You’re in complete shock. You don’t understand and are too dumbfounded to talk back. One officer enters your house while the other places hand cuffs on your wrists. The sound of Nepeta’s scream when she’s picked up by a stranger snaps you out of it. You try to go to her, but are forced towards the cop car.

What the hell just happened?! What is going on?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And again, let's just pretend I know how investigations of the law work, because let's be honest- if a there is the possibility a child was really in danger, I don't think officials would be dicking around like I portrayed here.
> 
> .... then again.... the element of racism can come into play. Because Nepeta isn't human, maybe the cops thought they could afford to risk her safety and spend time investigating because she's just a troll????? Works for me!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another prime example of conflicts that seem interesting, but are quickly resolved. I'm not lying when I tell you that I'm terrible at suspense. Also, the best way to deal with weak conflicts in your stories is to give them to the protagonists so you can strike them down and they end up working in your favor. 
> 
> (This chapter brought to you by God from the machine and logical fallacies).

Your mind is racing, but it’s only going in circles and you can’t think straight. What was going on? Why were you being accused of such things? What proof did they have?

The cops drove in two separate cars. You were in one and Nepeta in the other. Nepeta’s car was in front of you and you could see her jumping around in the back seat.

‘Oh God, if that car got into an accident right now Nepeta could be killed. She’s not buckled up or anything,’ you think.

At one point Nepeta’s car exits the highway, but yours does not follow.

“Wait, where is she going? Where are you taking her?”

“She is going with Child Protective Services until you are either convicted or found innocent of your charges,” The officer says.

“But I haven’t done anything!” you say. The cop doesn’t respond.

At the police station you’re lead into an interrogation room.

“Mr. Zahhak, as our officer has briefed you, you know you have been under investigation for prospective claims of child assault and molestation. You may not know that these charges are very dire offenses,” the interrogator rambles on, but you are only half paying attention. All you’re thinking about is Nepeta.

“Mr. Zahhak, is it true that you have had a sexual relationship with the troll, Nepeta?”

“No,” you say firmly.

“Witness report claims that Nepeta said you refer to her as “my love”. Is this true?”

When was the last time you said that? You guess just a couple of hours ago at the state park.

“Yes.”

“Could “my love” be short for “my lover”, indicating a sexual relationship?”

“No! It’s just a term of endearment!”

“Background checks have revealed that you have a fondness for animals. Is this true?”

“Yes, I am a vet.”

“We’ve also received reliable information that you have a passion for horses. Is this true?”

“Yes, the unique care for equines is what got me interested in veterinary practice, but I don’t see what this has to do with-”

“Our sources also say you have an interest in horse pornography. Is this true?”

“What?”

“Internet history records obtained from your computer show evidence that you have viewed videos such as “Two Guys, One Horse”, among others. Is this true?”

“If you mean “viewed” as in “viewed ten years ago”, then yes, but only because my idiot cousin sent me the video link without any context! I had no clue what I was watching until I clicked it! Even so, that was _ten years ago_. I wasn’t even out of college yet!”

Mr. Zahhak, are you aware that once discarded items are placed on the curb they become Public Domain?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Our private investigation has recovered this item from your trash can just last week.” The interrogator pulls an item out of an evidence bag.

Fucking hell, it’s Horuss’ _present_.

“That was a fucking prank gift from my fucking cousin for my fucking engagement announcement.” You say, barely keeping yourself together. “If you tested for fecal samples or even ran a black light over it, you’ll find that it’s never even been used!” My God, they’re using everything they can against you aren’t they?

The interrogator puts the phallic thing away and brings up his next sheet of questions. He never even stops to consider your statements.

“Along with charges to sexual assault, you’re also being investigated for physical assault. Our sources say that the child claimed “you held her in the water”. Could this be referencing you attempting to drown the child?”

Wait why did that sound familiar? When was the last time you heard Nepeta talking about how you needed to hold her in the tub to get her to take a bath?

A knocking at the door interrupts your interrogation.

“Sir, let the suspect go,” says another officer. “He has someone here to bail him out.”

In walks Feferi. It’s nothing short of a miracle.

“Hello constable!” She says with wide, piercing eyes and a forced smile. “I’m here to take my fiancé and ask that you drop all charges he’s being accused of.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’re in the middle of an interrogation on some very serious charges-”

“Oh, I know what he’s being accused of! I was just interrogated myself as I am a relation to the suspect in this case! But you and I both know there was no warrant for this arrest, and the evidence you had was so scant that you had to do an “investigation” to scrape together more. But we also both know that that “evidence” was too weak to support your charges, and that you had no warrant for that investigation either! So now you’re questioning him, trying to get him to admit something he hasn’t done with ambiguous questions that any judge worth his salt would object to! And above all else, I’m willing to bet you didn’t even read him his Miranda Rights! I certainly didn’t hear mine! I’ve already called my lawyer to prepare a case against your misconduct, but if you release him and the child, I can have him erase it as if it never happened.”

You can see the interrogator swallow as he thinks it over. Feferi doesn’t break eye contact. She doesn’t even blink. Her smile may still be forced and friendly, but under that expression is a cobra waiting to strike.

Damn, Feferi is scary when she wants to be.

The interrogator caves and breaks away. He pulls out a walkie-talkie. “Tell the boys down town at Child Protective Services that the girl is going home, and to drop all charges. There’s no case here.”

As soon as you’re freed, Feferi drags you out side where you find a car waiting for you.

Wait, why was there a car waiting for you? If Feferi had been interrogated as well, then wouldn’t she have been brought here in a cop car too?

The driver steps out and- holy shit is that Cronus? You haven’t heard from this guy in _months_. This almost seemed too Deus Ex Machina to be real.

“Cronus! I’m glad you could make it!” Feferi hugs him.

“Fef, you knowv I vwould do anything for you, especially after you helped me land my first job and helped me movwe out of the Strider’s place. And I’ll still help you, evwen though I hear you’re getting tied vwith this loser.” Cronus points to you.

“Cronus, don’t start that now. We need to get to the Child Protective Care Services pronto before they emotionally scar my future step-daughter.”

Cronus just rolls his eyes and unlocks the doors. “Get in.”

You squeeze into the back seat and Cronus floors the gas pedal.

“Wow, Cronus. I didn’t know you could, um, drive.” You say, trying to make light conversation.

“Yeah, and neither do the DMV. It’s still illegal in most states for trolls to havwe drivwers licenses, including this one.”

You tense a little, hoping that no cops saw you get in the car with Cronus. Then they _would_ have something to charge you with.

The car isn’t even fully stopped when you get out at the Child Protective Service Building. You storm in through the front doors and demand the location of Nepeta.

The secretary points you in the right direction, too frightened to ask for any ID or information. You stomp down the hall as Feferi comes in and tries to calm the poor woman and explain the situation. 

You can hear Nepeta’s voice before you find her, as well as another voice asking questions. It seems Nepeta’s in an interrogation of her own.

“Tell me, Nepeta, does Equius ever touch you in inappropriate places you don’t want to be touched?”

“Yeah, sometimes!”

“Like where?”

“Like my feet and under my arms and behind my ears!”

“But… those aren’t really inappropriate places. Why do you know like being touched there?”

“Well, how else are you s’possed to have tickle fights?”

You barge into the room. The interrogator and Nepeta both jump. You almost jump yourself when you realize who the interrogator is. No, this person is not just the interrogator, this person is also the one responsible for this mess, and most of all this person is the last person on Earth you want to see manipulating your child.

It’s Aranea.

“You,” you hiss.

“You!” she spits back.

“You’re the one behind all of this, aren’t you? I should have known from that interrogator’s questions and what his “source” had told him. Will you stop at nothing to ruin our lives?”

“Ruin your lives? Hardly! Don’t you see what you have here? Nepeta was a feral child that learned to read, write, speak, and fully adapt to society! Less than one percent of feral children have done this, and we must find out how! If anything, _you’re_ ruining future people’s lives by refusing to cooperate and let us learn how she did it! I will have her. I always get what I want!”

“I see… yes, I understand it all, now. You don’t even care about Nepeta at all, do you?” you ask. “This isn’t even about her or feral children. This is a personal vendetta against me for when I didn’t agree to give her to you the first time, and the second time when your plan with the child protective services completely backfired. I bet that day you came to “apologize” to me was really to try and find incriminating evidence of me, but all you got were words from Nepeta that you tried to turn against me, and still failed to do!”

“So what if I failed! I’ll just come at you again! Instead of child assault I’ll accuse you of bestiality! Animal abuse! There will always be someone who will listen and agree with me!”

“Bestiality? Animal Abuse? It’s true, you really don’t care. You don’t care if Nepeta is human or animal. You’ll use whichever excuse you can to have her taken away from me!”

“Yes, and even if I don’t have her, knowing you won’t either would be good enough for me. I will have her taken from you if it’s the last thing I do!”

“I doubt it,” Feferi steps in, holding a cell phone. She presses a button and the phone replies with “video saved!”

“What-! You were recording me! I-illegal bug tapping! I can have you sued!” Aranea threatens.

“”oh, no no,” Feferi smiles. “This is hardly a bug. I was going to record the tearful reunion when Equius and Nepeta were reunited, but _you_ just kept talking. Give up, _doctor_ Aranea, or should I just say Miss Aranea? Because I can assure you you will no longer be a child psych after today.”

Aranea looks between you and Feferi, before forcing her way out of the room.

“Mark my words, Zahhak! I will do everything in my power to get that stupid troll!”

“Yeah, I’d like to see you try with a restraining order,” Feferi grumbles and begins making phone calls to her lawyer. 

“Wow Feferi…” you grin. “I knew you could be good at intimidating people, but I never knew you were _that_ good!”

“Like I said love, I have _a lot_ of power.” She winks at you.

You feel Nepeta pull at your sleeve. “Can we go home now?” she asks. “Tomorrow is school.”

“Yes, Nepeta,” you reassure as you embrace her. “We can go home for good.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HOME STRETCH, BABY. LET'S FINISH THIS. PREPARE FOR CHEESY HAPPY ENDINGS AND WORM FUZZY FEELINGS.

Outside of the building Cronus is leaning against his car and smoking a cigarette. He raises an eyebrow when he sees Nepeta.

“Cute kid,” he comments. “Let me knowv vwhen she turns eighteen in troll years.”

You think about punching Cronus in the gills, but Nepeta distracts you with a hiss and violent resistance to go near him.

“Nepeta what’s wrong?” you ask.

“He’s purple!” she screeches.

“Oh, fuck off,” Cronus says, throwing the cigarette butt onto the asphalt and climbing into the car.

“Nepeta, if you please just get in the car with him just this one time, I promise you’ll never have to go near him again, okay?”

Nepeta reluctantly agrees, but sits as far away from the violet blooded troll as she can. At least you’re glad to see that she hasn’t suffered any apparent trauma from the whole ordeal.

All the way home, Feferi talks about the wedding to distract you. She talks about what food you will be serving, what music will be playing, what the waiters will be wearing, everything down to the last detail.

“Oh, I’m so glad we got that mess straightened out before it could get any worse! I would have hated to delay our wedding because of any stupid court orders that could have come out of that.”

“Feferi, are you sure that will be the last we see of Aranea?” you ask.

“If she knows what’s good for her, yes!” Feferi says without a doubt. “I’ll make certain she loses all credibility as a psychologist, you can count on that for sure! Oh, Equius, just think. In two and a half more months you and I will be a family!”

“Married makes a family?” Nepeta asks.

“Yes dear! Didn’t Equius explain that to you?”

Did you? You could have sworn you had. Maybe you had used the words “union”, “matrimony”, and “nuptial ties” instead. You probably should have kept it simple.

Nepeta is lost in thought the rest of the ride home. It’s very late by the time you get back, and the two of you go straight to bed with hardly so much as a goodnight’s hug between you.

The next morning you remind Nepeta of her promise to apologize to the kid she gored yesterday (if he showed up for class) when you drop her off at school. She promised, but you couldn’t help but notice she seemed a little sullen.

Could what had happened last night affected her more than you thought?

That afternoon Nepeta reported to you that the boy did come to class and that she apologized, but she still seemed distracted. You tried to ask if something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her thoughts into words.

That evening though, you caught her in her room, looking through one of her old picture books. One of the first ones she had when she started learning sign language. Nepeta noticed you watching her, and spoke up.

“Equius and Feferi are getting married?” she asked.

“Yep,” you said, moving in to sit with her on her bed. 

“And getting married makes a family?”

“That’s right, love.”

“Then can I…” Nepeta wrung her hands. “Can I get married to you and Feferi too?”

It suddenly clicks for you why Nepeta’s been so distant. She’s still unsure about what you two are. You hadn’t realized how important this was to her, or how much it was stressing her out.

You can’t help but chuckle softly at her child-like innocence. But apparently laughing was the wrong thing to do because Nepeta’s eyes go wide with distress. She thinks you’re laughing at her.

“Please Equius!” her voice cracks, and for the first time ever you see her cry tears of actual distress. “I want to be part of the family too!”

Nepeta begins to sob and it’s a heartbreaking sight. It’s true; not once until now can you think of a time she has shed a tear due to sadness. She’s always been confident and sure, but the thought of being excluded from the family must have been too much.

“Oh love, don’t cry.” You hold her in your arms and rock her gently. “You don’t have to get married with us because you are already a part of our family.”

“I am?” She sniffs and hiccups. “Yes, and I’m sorry I never made that clear before. You don’t need to get married to make a family. All you need to do is love the people you want to be in your family and they will be.”

Nepeta thinks about this for a minute. “Then… then we’re family. Not dad or daughter or sister or brother. We’re family.”

“That’s right. And this December our family is just going to get a little bigger.”

\--

Your wedding was held on the first of December and it was everything you could have hoped for. Thick glistening snow drifts that reshaped the ground into a winter wonderland, a gentle snow fall as soon as the pastor said “you may now kiss the bride”, dozens of your friends and relatives to share your moment, and delicious food.

Your bride was the most gorgeous you’ve ever seen her, and Nepeta was every bit as adorable, dressed in her flowery white dress and signature blue hat. All throughout the ceremony she tailed Karkat, who was the only other troll her age who attended, and you could hear all the other guests whisper to the two “you’re next! You’re next!”

Speaking of trolls, you were surprised at how many attended. Of course there was Karkat, Sollux, and Cronus, who cried like a baby through the whole thing, and then Feferi’s sister and her troll boyfriend Eridan, Jade’s brother John and his two newest foster trolls, and even more that you weren’t sure how they fit into the equation. You didn’t care though. You didn’t discriminate.

Perhaps the greatest thing of all to happen that day though was the passing of the Troll Civil Rights Act. You did not know it would pass on that day. You couldn’t have dreamt it would pass on that day, but you couldn’t have been more overjoyed to know that your wedding anniversary would also mark the anniversary of troll equality across the nation.

And just like the snow fall symbolizing a clean slate, a fresh start, you and your family were entering a new era and a promising future. And the future looked bright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all, for reading this story. As promised, my story wouldn't end in tears, and if it DID for some of you, then I hope they were only the happy kind. I think it's the first multi-chapter story on my AO3 that I managed to finish? *sweats nervously in realization that I haven't worked on Experimentstuck in over a year*
> 
> I hope I could make you laugh with my weird sense of humor, and if you are a fan of the UFUT, Loophole universe, then I hope this is an acceptable addition to two already great stories. 
> 
> (now I just got to figure out why these dumb second set of notes keep showing up on the last chapter. Seriously, if anybody knows why, please tell me.)

**Author's Note:**

> These are Equius' pajamas, except they match in color:  
> http://makingmyamericandream.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cfbrobe.gif  
> http://makingmyamericandream.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/cfbrobe.gif


End file.
